Sione Monū

Red Velvet

Red Velvet by Sione Monū

Artwork Detail

The catalyst for Sione Monū’s photographic series Kafu Couture, 2014– is kafu or blankets; in this case, the mink blankets that are a staple in Monū’s household. Kafu of all varieties, textures, prints and colours are fashioned on Monū’s body as couture garments and documented in a manner befitting of fashion editorials. Across 11 self-portraits and group portraits shot within domestic spaces, kafu are intricately constructed into belted robes and silhouette forms.

In works such as Mangere Bridge – in which the maroon-coloured carpet leads the eye to Monū, who is posed on the couch in a maroon-coloured kafu that strategically covers parts of the artist’s body – leitī are physically and metaphorically inscribed within the domestic. While playful in manner, the artist’s reinterpretation of domesticity denotes the home and its construction as a space where gender can be simultaneously learned, exposed and disrupted.

Title
Red Velvet
Artist/creator
Sione Monū
Production date
2016
Medium
digital colour print
Dimensions
400 x 300 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2022
Accession no
2022/9/10
Other ID
x2021/51/11 Old Accession Number
Department
New Zealand Art
Display status
Not on display

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