Ani O’Neill

Ani O’Neill is a Cook Islands artist whose practice has made a significant contribution to contemporary Pacific art in Aotearoa. Born in Auckland in 1971 and of Cook Islands and Irish descent, she graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1994. Her multidisciplinary practice spans installation, sculpture, textiles and performance, drawing on Cook Islands cultural knowledge, craft traditions and Pacific diasporic experience. 

O’Neill emerged during a formative period for contemporary Pacific art and was part of a generation that helped expand its visibility in Aotearoa. In 1994, she was included in Bottled Ocean: Contemporary Polynesian Artists, curated by Jim Vivieaere, a landmark exhibition featuring a generation of Pacific artists. 

Her connection to Tautai sits within this wider history. As an artist whose practice developed alongside Tautai’s early years, O’Neill represents a generation that challenged established ideas about Pacific art and opened new possibilities for contemporary practice. As curator of Tautai’s 40th anniversary exhibition, she brings her perspective as both artist and participant to the organisation’s four-decade history.