By Samoa News [email protected] Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In honor of the First Nations of Lutruwita Tasmania, Australia, Performing Lines Tasmania, in association with Ten Days on the Island Arts Festival, highlighted the opening of SA/MOA (sacred/centre) Exhibition this month.
Lead artist/ musician Lila Meleisea welcomed and invited traditional makers, knowledge holders, musicians, and contemporary artists including local artists Su’a Uilisone Fitiao and Reggie Meredith Fitiao, founders of Fa’asamoa Arts nonprofit.
Meleisea is based in Lutruwita Tasmania, and as a daughter of Samoan and Lutruwita ancestry, her desire to connect both of her cultural ties together to strengthen bonds and connections between her two island homes became the focus of this new project.
Her vision included traditional barkcloth Siapo, with the presence of five (5) Siapo of old dating back as far as 1866 which are a part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) collection.
This visual exhibition, which will be on display at the Moonah Arts Centre through April 5, 2025, combines the sights of projected images of the Samoan forest, the faatoaga u’a (plantation of paper mulberry) from both Leone village and Siutu village with added nature sounds of birds and ocean activity.
There are also beautiful Siapo made from Samoa and Amerika Samoa which included Siapo mamanu work by Su'a Uilisone and Reggie Meredith Fitiao, with smaller Siapo mamanu by two ASCC art students.
Reggie Meredith Fitiao (pictured) and Su’a Uilisone Fitiao, founders of Fa’asamoa Arts nonprofit were part of the traditional makers, knowledge holders, musicians, and contemporary artists invited to opening of SA/MOA (sacred/centre) Exhibition this month. This visual exhibition will be on display at the Moonah Arts Centre through April 5, 2025. [Courtesy photo]
In the corner of the space, Meleisea’s installation work entitled “12 Moons” composed of unpainted sheets of hand beaten bark to honor the balance of a continuous relationship between humans and nature to her ongoing projection of imagery were carefully installed across from the ancestral Siapo in the gallery.
SA/MOA holds many threads that connect with and share Lila’s cultural learnings and community, both through her travel to both Samoas and through connecting with the Pasefika diaspora in her home of Lutruwita.
Mention- worthy components of this exhibition include the works by Siapo maker Tusolo Aumale and her family from Siutu, Savai’i. Tusolo’s siapo elei works on display next to ongoing visual projections of her mother beating barkcloth and engaged in creating a siapo elei were a highlight and reminder of the hard work the makers endure when making Siapo.
Another wonderful component included a program of workshops and events coordinated by LUMI (which means ‘here’ in palawa kani) such as a presentation/ talk from Galumalemana Steven Percival of the Tiapapata Arts Centre in Samoa entitled, “Cultivating Futures: Revival of Cultural Memory”, along with activities for all like Panipopo making and learning how to siva Samoa just to name a few.
Elders of Lutruwita, such as Lola Greeno, Cheryl Mundy and Colleen Munday came to share ancestral knowledge of shell stringing while in the Siapo making workshop, both Aumale and Meredith Fitiao engaged their participants with additional hands-on activities.
Aumale demonstrated how to make a siapo elei, while Meredith Fitiao showcased highlighting siapo with natural materials and dyes.
A siapo mamanu (freehand style) tapa that was started in Leone village was also completed with the Lutruwita community on site as a symbol of connecting the communities near and far.
“For us, this siapo mamanu was a very important step in bonding with others. With a few paogo brushes and some natural dyes from home, our workshop in Lutruwita provided an inclusive feel that all hands are needed to complete this Siapo,” explained Meredith Fitiao.
Both she and Tusolo guided the many brush strokes needed for both siapo styles that culminated in a proud group photograph of their completed works.
To activate this entire installation of artistic, cultural and ancestral presence, SUGA, a four-person music ensemble performed in the exhibition space. The ensemble comprised Lila Meleisea who is also a musician of many instruments like the fagufagu nose flute, saxophone, and African kora; Natalia Mann, a Samoan diaspora resonance artist on Harp; and, Grace Vanilau, a Samoan poet-singer-songwriter-Arts & Cultural Development Practitioner, as lead singer.
Together with Folole Tupuola, a Samoan diaspora performer and activist and the dancer for SUGA, they transcended viewers with a mesmerizing collection of beautiful oscillating sounds while Folole performed a choreographed recital of Samoan gestures, movements and pantomime .
With an outpouring of applause and cheers from the audience, SUGA fulfilled their goal of captivating and activating the space into an unforgettable experience.
Meredith Fitiao summed up the week long festivities by extending a big faamalo to Meleisea and family for her extraordinary work, along with the elders of Lutruwita whose presence was so uplifting; to Sinsa Mansell who set things into motion, to SUGA, LUMI , the Moonah Arts Centre team, and the entire community with a Faafetai tele lava for the warm sincere hospitality and successful event.
For more information about SA/MOA (sacred/centre) at Moonah Arts Centre, please check out TENDAYS.ORG.AU
Section: RegionalTags: SA/MOA Exhibition
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