Friday 4 March 2022
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s latest exhibition sets a daring new direction, building a Pacific feminist trajectory in contemporary art.
Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda brings together 12 prominent artists from across the Pacific whose works set a feminist agenda by foregrounding the most pressing issues of our times: climate change and resilience, tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty), activism and social justice.
‘I am thrilled to present Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; an exciting, energetic and bold exhibition that positions contemporary art and Pacific feminism as a powerful and inclusive tool for individual and collective empowerment,’ says Gallery Director Kirsten Lacy.
Curated by Ane Tonga, Curator, Pacific Art, Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda reignites a call to action set in the late 1970s when Māori and Pacific women advocated for full and equal participation within feminist movements of the time and, more widely, within Aotearoa New Zealand society. The exhibition presents major commissioned projects alongside existing artworks and ephemera, some that are being shown to the public for the first time.
‘Declaration signals ambitions for contemporary Pacific art and artists at Toi o Tāmaki which are as expansive and complex as Te Moana Nui a Kiwa itself. Amid turbulent times, this exhibition calls our attention to the power of collective leadership, vision and radical hope that has always existed in the Pacific,’ says Ane Tonga, Curator, Pacific Art.
Opening Saturday 26 March, Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda will feature works by Jasmine TogoBrisby, Marti Friedlander, Jessicoco Hansell, Taloi Havini, Lonnie Hutchinson, Ioane Ioane, Sione Monū, Suzanne Tamaki, LataiTaumoepeau, Molly Rangiwai-McHale & Luisa Tora, andKalisolaite ’Uhila
Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda is presented in association with Auckland Arts Festival 2022 and is proudly supported by Auckland University of Technology, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Stout Trust, Rose Dunn and has been made possible by the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.
