Artwork information

Povi, cow or bull in the Samoan language, is intricately made from unused ‘Ox & Palm’ corned beef tins, at once the container and the contained. Tinned corned beef is an introduced and imported dietary staple of Pacific communities, often to the detriment of their population’s health. While there is usually an element of humour in Tuffery’s work this is undercut by the cultural and environmental concerns that are central to his practice. (Recent Contemporary Acquisitions, 2002)