OFFSTAGE 8

with Darcell Apelu, Albert Ashton, Rachael Duval, Jessica 'Coco' Hansell in collaboration with Tokerau Wilson, Ara Ariki Houkamau, Lonnie Hutchinson, Janet Lilo, Shaquille Leu'u, Jasmine Te Hira, Nââwié Tutugoro, Christopher Ulutupu, Leafa Wilson.

Offstage is Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust's annual moving image and live performance event held in partnership with Artspace NZ. In its 8th iteration, Offstage continues its legacy of offering space for experimentation and play. Using Hawaiki and the common whakapapa between Māori and Pacific peoples as a prompt, our artists have created works that speak to their experiences within Aotearoa.

Christopher Ulutupu is an artist of Samoan/Niuean/German descent currently residing in Wellington. He recently completed his MFA at Massey University, Wellington and has a Bachelor of Performance Design (Hons) from Massey University and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. Ulutupu has a background in art direction and set design. Ulutupu mounted a solo exhibition at play_station, Wellington in 2018 and participated in the inaugural Hobart Biennale in 2017.

Darcell Apelu is an artist of Niuean and Nz European descent born 1990 and raised in Mount Maunganui. She works in mediums such as moving image, sound, performance and installation. Her practice is informed by her experiences as an afakasi female and uses her body as a way to facilitate terms of ‘otherness’ and also has a background in international competitive wood chopping which also has a subtle impact throughout her practice. She has completed a Masters in Art and Design and Auckland University of Technology. Exhibitions include: All Lines Converge, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery New Plymouth (2016), A’oga Hutt Common Ground Hutt Public Art Festival, Wellington (2015), More Than We Know - performance series, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland (2013)

Lonnie Hutchinson born 1963, is a New Zealand Artist from Māori, Samoan and European descent. In 2015 Hutchinson was awarded the Creative New Zealand Pasifika Contemporary Artist Award. Lonnie has exhibited in a number of group and solo exhibitions including: Black Bird, Gus Fisher Gallery, 2015; Steal Paper Acrylic, Snowwhite Gallery, 2010; My Mother, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, 2009; Pasifika Styles, University of Cambridge Museum, UK, 2006-2008; L’Art Urbain du Pacifique (Urban Art from the Pacific), Castle of Saint-Aurent, Limousin, France, 2005; Samoa Contemporary, Pataka, Porirua, 2008 and This Show Is What I Do, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2005; Coconut Dreams, SoFA Gallery, Christchurch, 2000. Lonnie also regularly contributes to collective art projects including TRANS VERSA (2006) in Santiago, Chile and collaborated with students from HITLabNZ (Human Interface Technology Laboratory), University of Canterbury in 2005. Lonnie is represented by Jonathan Smart Gallery in Christchurch and Bartley and Company Art in Wellington.

Leafa Wilson aka Olga Hedwig Krause was born in Tokoroa, New Zealand in 1966, Wilson is an accomplished artist, curator and writer based in Waikato, New Zealand. Wilson/ Krause is revered for her experimental multi-media installations and performance art. Wilson/ Krause has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions. Among which are: the University of Queensland Brisbane, 2006, the Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington. in 2005 and the first Morni Hills Performance Art Biennale, Chandigarh/ Badisher Hills, India in 2016. Still, Like Air, I'll Rise, ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland, 2017; Fa’amanaia, Artstation, 2014; Sofa Gallery, Christchurch, 2006; Delineate, Chartwell Gallery, 200

Janet Lilo is a social commentator whose artistic documentary practice is grounded in the local while simultaneously being informed by global media and popular culture. Her work has been seen on on monitors and projected onto objects in gallery spaces, the sides of buildings, in museums, empty flats and backyards, on television, displayed on shop windows, on the internet and fabricated into bus stops and billboards. Shout Whisper Wail! The 2017 Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2017; Status Update, Te Uru Waitakere Gallery, 2016; Hit Me With Your Best Shot (commissioned by The Physics Room) for Christchurch and Wellington City Gallery, 2013; Right of Way for the Fifth Auckland Triennial at Artspace, 2013; In Spite of Ourselves: Approaching Documentary; Contact, Frankfurter Kunstverein, 2012; Home AKL, Auckland Art Gallery, 2012; Identi-tee video, Auckland War Memorial Museum, 2012

Curated by Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua