Samoan-Kiwi Art at Our City
Sau Ta Siva (Come Dance With Me) is an exhibition at Our City O-Tautahi by Lurlene Christianson and Emma Kesha, the recipients of the MacMillan Brown Centre of Pacific Studies Artists Residency in 2002.
Lurlene lives in Wanganui and is known for her elegant ceramic figures which often reference women and mythological stories or carry personal and political messages. In this they are intended to counter clichéd representations of Polynesian women. Lurlene also works with digital imagery as a means of reclaiming Polynesian symbols and iconography.
Referencing the beauty and love of Polynesian flora, in Sau Ta Siva Lurlene’s digital weaving and siapo compositions compliment the work of traditional weaver Emma Kesha.
Emma is a Dunedin-based artist who learned to weave as a child in Samoa. After moving to Aotearoa she was inspired to take up weaving creatively and learned to work with local materials. Recognised as a master weaver in Samoa, she enjoys passing her skills to women of all cultures.
They come together in Sau Ta Siva to celebrate their shared experience and to pay homage to their heritage and creative voice as Samoan women artists living in Aotearoa.
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