The Pulenoa Triptych

Pulenoa Triptych 1995 is emblematic of John Pule’s decades long exploration of hiapo (decorated Niuean tapa cloth) of the 19th century. For Pule, hiapo is architectural sharing, ‘When you look down on to the tapa, the patterns look like a plan of a village, or a plan of tracks going down to the ocean. . . I stretched the canvas, bought some paint – burnt umber, like the colours used on tapa – then I became an architect.’

Pule’s architecture combines aspects of hiapo with personalised iconography that reflect politicised tapa. The title Pulenoa, meaning “without consent,” evokes histories of intrusion—colonialism, Christian conversion, and nuclear testing in the Pacific. Central to the triptych is five orb-like shapes encased in a dotted circular form, recalling compasses or clock faces, surrounded by vignettes of family, crucifixion, and watchful figures. The outer panels extend this symbolic lexicon with two-headed sharks, lizards, and repeated inscriptions of pulenoa.

Pule’s work maps a cosmology of loss and endurance, drawing ancestral forms into conversation with contemporary Pacific realities. He states, “I wanted to express my concerns at the way countries like America and France test their nuclear powers… using the ocean in our backyard as the site.”

- Ane Tonga, Curator, Pacific Art l Toi nō Te Moana Nui-a-Kiwa, 2025

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