Christopher Ulutupu

Born in Tonga in 1980, Telly Tuita was raised in several different villages until aged 9, when it was decided that the boy who spoke no English would be better off with his father in Sydney. The cultural adaptation to life in Sydney was astonishing - from island village to urban metropolis. It was a different planet, new language, new family, new culture, new village. Surrounded by the general materialistic nature of western consumerism, he was fascinated by its bright and shiny disposability and infinite reinvention. Music, movies, department store windows, chic product packing, glossy magazines, fast food and fast pace of life the antithesis of his former Island existence.

Tuita's metropolitan family dynamic was not without tribulation and lasted until he was aged 14. As a teenager, Tuita re-experienced his childhood circumstance, living between spaces, first with his father and then Aunty and Uncle who ultimately guided him to university. It proved a fateful turn of events, as it laid the foundation for what was to ultimately manifest itself as the artists principal concept, the self-coined genre, Tongpop. Tongpop is an intriguing blend of influence, historical and contemporary personalities, art, music, movies and literature, foundational pillars of the western canon blended with memories, icons and patterns of the artists cultural origins. Within his practice - video, photography, painting, sculpture and installation - Tuita navigates ideas of home and belonging, identity and selfworth. It encapsulates an experience lived between two realities.

Rosanna Raymond

Rosanna Raymond (also known as Sistar S’pacific) is a leading figure in contemporary Pacific art and culture. Her multifaceted practice spans performance, writing, curation, institutional critique, pedagogy, and body adornment. She is a founding member of the internationally recognised SaVĀge K’lub and long-standing member of the Pacific Sisters art collective.

Raymond’s work not only critiques traditional museum practices but also acts as a platform for dialogue, embodying a living connection between past, present, and future cultural narratives. Internationally recognized for her work, she has exhibited and presented in diverse institutions and communities around the globe. In 2018 Raymond was awarded the CNZ Pacific Senior Artist acknowledging her contribution to the arts and appointed as now is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition to her services to Pacific Arts.