Artists Pusi Urale and Vaimaila Urale (Fagamalo, Savai’i, Western Samoa, now named Samoa) are contemporary, innovative artists who live in Avondale, Tāmaki Makaurau. For the first time, both mother and daughter are publicly exhibiting a show of artworks together, representing their distinctive creative practices and more than a century of Samoan knowledge and insight that renders past and present in real time.

Together these artists playfully and meaningfully weave a language of patterns and Samoan symbols into the canvases of paint, wood and fabric, as women living and adapting immersively to the cultural knowledges of past and present. These artists speak to a sense of place that isn’t physically fixed, or bound to traditional mediums, but act a portal of connection to a sense of an expansive homeland that touches people’s hearts, minds, and spirit

“Vaimaila Urale’s poetic use of the computer characters found on universal ASCII keyboards, create inventive compositions that translate ancestral mark-making into a graphic vocabulary of code. These patterns emerge from digital technology while staying rooted in the symbols of traditional Samoan artforms such as tapa and tatau. Markings such as “<”, “>”, “/”, and “\” pay homage to the distinctive flora and fauna of the islands, such as the footprint of the native tuli bird. Vaimaila explains that “as a visual artist, I am consciously engaging within the continuum of knowledge systems and patterns unique to the Moana, allowing me to articulate meaning in contemporary spaces.” Through her artwork she provides an open digital tapa mat for gathering, sitting, praying and talanoa. The artworks extend beyond their physical appearance and journey into realms of the unknown with accessibility and cultural assurance. Just as the footprints of the native tuli bird can be read in any direction along the shores that they disembark, we can consider these artworks too as footprints reaching across time”.

Andy Leleisi’uao

About the artwork

Ana Lilo (Hidden Cave) is a new commission by Vaimaila Urale. The sculptural self-portrait features the artist’s tattoos as digital markings rendered through a 3D-printing process, using a wood substrate with technical assistance from Samoan artist Petone Groom. The sculpture is cloaked in cascading blue fabric, creating a protective space that also references the volcanic lava tubes found in Samoa.