City Gallery Wellington | Te Whare Toi

Deane Gallery: 18 June–12 September 2010

Curated by Reuben Friend

*Mafola Series I*, 2010, ink on paper, in *Motunei* by Cerisse Palagi in the Deane Gallery at City Gallery Wellington

Cerisse Palalagi was selected while studying as a student to exhibit a series of print and embroidery artworks that reflected on her Niuean and Māori heritage, while also drawing inspiration from pop culture and early online txt slang and coded language that was emerging from Pacific communities living in Auckland at the time. The exhibition drew on the distinct style of hiapo barkcloth from Niuean which is uniquely characterised by its freehand style of drawing with ink, depicting images of Western plants and commodities introduced by Western missionaries and their families in the 1800s. Alongside these western images are traditional Niuean patterned forms that predate the arrival of Western influences.

The series of artworks were exhibited alongside a major exhibition by renowned Auckland-based Niuean artist John Pule, and provided an opportunity for Palalagi to share in collaborative research project into the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s collection of Niuean hiapo barkcloth.

The following article was featured in the exhibition catalogue for the exhibition ‘Cerisse Palalagi: Motunei’ that opened in the Deane Gallery for Māori and Pacific Art at City Gallery Wellington on 18 June, 2010.

CERISSE PALALAGI: MOTUNEI

Hiapo (bark cloth) paintings produced in Niue during the mid to late nineteenth century reveal the influence of European customs and technologies on customary island life and culture. These distinctive and intricately hand painted works incorporate indigenous patterning and symbols alongside western figurative motifs in response to the social and cultural changes taking place at the time. Auckland based artist Cerisse Palalagi (Niuean, Mãori), like John Pule before her, sees hiapo as the cultural anchor for her art practice which she uses to shed light on contemporary experiences.

Art historian Nicholas Thomas writes in the catalogue notes for the exhibition Savage Island Hiapo (1998) that while Niuean hiapo shares stylistic features with other forms of tapa from the Pacific, it is distinctive in its use of freehand painting, the diversity of the motifs, and the irregularity of the patterning. Cerisse Palalagi actively employs these painterly traditions in her art practice. Characterised by an impressive mastery of a wide array of print and mark making processes such as silk screening, photographic emulsions, hand painting and drawing, embroidery and photography, Palalagi's art merges hiapo practices with contemporary printing and portraiture. Her works respond to her experience of current social trends and developments in her culture and community. Palalagi explains, "I like the juxtaposition of the cultural symbols and people combined in my portraits. They are usually of people in my family, including myself. This is my way of reviving the culture, and showing people that our culture and language is not dead."

Motunai, a Niuean word referring to 'people of the land', can also be translated as Motu nei meaning 'this land or island' in Māori language. However for Palalagi, Motunei is more than just a reference to her Niuean and Māori ancestry. Recognising the historical significance of landscape in Pacific cultures, Motunei acknowledges Pacific communities who now look beyond their home community. Referring to the advent of fibre-optic telecommunications as a recent catalyst for this shift in social and cultural behaviours, Palalagi explores the influence of mainstream media and online cultures of communication on Pacific youth.

Of particular interest to Palalagi is the advent of txt' language. Palalagi sees a distinct similarity between the way hiapo paintings developed their own coded or abbreviated system of visual language, and the evolution of 'txt' language. Incorporating 'txt' terms such as 'SARP', 'Dont Botz', and '2APA' into her paintings, Palalagi makes public some of the Pacific adaptations of this coding, which she says have been created by young Polynesian people to suit their languages, colloquialisms and narratives. Palalagi admits that while these codes are easily identifiable to younger generations, they may seem foreign to more mature audiences - just as customary hiapo paintings may once have felt alien to some.

Constant communication, whether it is meaningful or mundane, has become a defining trait of today's generation. The ability to instantly record and share important moments, as well as trivial day-to-day details with friends, family and online communities, has become integral to the everyday lives of most young people today. In alluding to the prominence of this aspect of contemporary culture Palalagi floats self-portraits of teenagers captured on mobile phones, or posted online via digital devices, across the surfaces of her paintings. Their poses and hand gestures at the importance of projecting a staunch or 'cool' self image or online profile to the world. While hiapo practices remain at the core of these works, Palalagi says "I feel comfortable with putting my own sway on things, changing them around, bringing them into the contemporary world. Like printing an image of a 'b-boy' taniwha for instance." Palalagi believes that such developments demonstrate the propensity of Pacific peoples to re-interpret foreign modes of expression through 'Polynesian eyes' as a means of responding to and furthering their own cultural narratives.

Cultural appropriation, adaptation and integration is a natural part of the development of any culture, and conversely the denial of the artistic or creative expressions of the youth could be to the detriment the people as a whole. Palalagi's work is a youthful testimony to the way cultures respond and adapt to changes in the social as well as natural environment.These shifts in customs and values are often driven by a curiosity for the new, tempered by a respect for the cultural traditions of the past.

Artist biography

Cerisse Palalagi is of Niuean and Māori (Ngāti Pikiao) ancestry. She was born in 1977 and lives in Auckland. She works predominantly in the mediums of printing, painting and drawing and more recently photography. Palalagi graduated from Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2000, and is currently studying towards a Masters of Visual Arts and Design at Auckland University of Technology. Palalagi has recently completed a lithography print residency 2010) at the Auckland Print Studio, Unitec New Zealand, Auckland, and in 2008 attended the Tenth Annual Pacific Arts Festival, Pago Pago, America Samoa. Palalagi is an active member of Toi Whakataa Press, the New Zealand Print Council and exhibits regularly in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad. Recent exhibitions include Native Coconut (2010), Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland; Taa Moemoea (2009), Solander Gallery, Wellington; Strengthening Sennit (2008), St Paul St Gallery, Auckland; Red Thread (2008), Okaioceanikart Gallery, Auckland; Ranea (2008), Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland; Pocahontas meets Hello Kitty (2007), Richard F Brush Art Gallery, St Lawrence University, New York; and Squeak Toy Animals (2006), Wisconsin, USA.

Cerissa Palalagi: Motunei

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