CURATORIAL STATEMENT

Strengthening Sennit is an exhibition of work by fifteen artists who are currently attending four Auckland City tertiary institutions.Tautai Trust had two aims when instigating this exhibition, one, as a means of bringing together students from across the city and the other, to provide an opportunity to a recent graduate to curate an exhibition.

The artists are both undergraduate and post graduate students and the hope is that in the process of working towards the exhibition they will form peer/collegial relationships which will stay with them when they leave their educational institutions and journey out into the world.

The title Strengthening Sennit acknowledges the beauty of this most durable fibre and highlights how it becomes stronger when individual fibres are woven together.

The artists while linked through shared pacific histories live in today’s world and are contemporary artists; examining, questioning and commenting on a range of issues and subjects that are of interest to them now. Their individual voices are strengthened through the shared endeavour of this exhibition.

Leanne Clayton

Ane Tonga

Ane Tonga

Cerisse Palalagi

Cerisse Palalagi

David Kaho

David Kaho

Fainga’a Taufa

Fainga’a Taufa

Juliana Satchell

Juliana Satchell

Linda Tanoai

Linda Tanoai

Melemafileo Uhamaka

Melemafileo Uhamaka

Mose Eteuati

Mose Eteuati

Nooroa Tapuni

Nooroa Tapuni

Paula Schaafhausen

Paula Schaafhausen

Sera Ele

Sera Ele

Siliga Setoga

Siliga Setoga

Suia Westbrook

Suia Westbrook

Vaimaila Urale

Vaimaila Urale