FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA Pacific Sisters

FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA
May our Frock, greet your Frock

An exhibition and workshop series by legendary Tāgata Moana (People of the Pacific) art collective, the Pacific Sisters. 

Immerse yourself in making practices of the Moana through the Pacific Sisters', FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA, a major exhibition showcasing the Pacific Sisters’ vibrant legacy through fashion, performance, film, and music.

Bringing to life the artistic traditions of the Moana, as you move through the exhibition visitors will encounter niu aitu (new ancestors) avatar adorned in the Sisters’ intricate handmade garments alongside ancestral taonga and measina (treasured cultural items) drawn from the collections of Museums Victoria. The exhibition offers visitors a dynamic Pasifika lounge to engage with archival footage and imagery from the Pacific Sisters' 30 years of pioneering work or join one of the public adornment-making workshops, sure to leave you feeling fierce and fabulous.  Nau mai haere mai!! All are welcome!

Curated by the Pacific Sisters and Jade Hadfield, FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA is presented by Bunjil Place in association with Asia TOPA, Arts Centre Melbourne. 

_{Header image: Pacific Sisters: He Toa Tāera | Fashion Activists, 2019, Photo: Auckland Art Gallery.}
 

About the Pacific Sisters and Jade Hadfield

Pacific Sisters is a Tāgata Moana art collective that emerged from the fringes of mainstream arts and culture in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1991. They are now celebrated for their multi-disciplinary practice that blends Moana heritage art and contemporary forms to create fashion activism. Through ceremony, art, adornment and performance, they embrace and assert their urban Māori, Pacific, and Queer identities, unique to Aotearoa New Zealand.  Pacific Sisters advocate for the environment, Indigenous, POC and Queer rights and body sovereignty. The collective is an active and influential part of the wider Moana arts community, nurturing and mentoring younger artists, as well as inspiring and supporting each other’s individual art practices.

Jade Hadfield |Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, is a conservator and curator living in Narrm / Melbourne, and has over twelve years’ experience at leading cultural organisations, including Te Papa, ICCROM, The Koorie Heritage Trust, and State Library Victoria, and is currently Curator, Moana Wan-Solwara Collection at Museums Victoria. Jade is committed to Indigenous museum practices and elevating art of the Moana.

_{Center image: Pacific Sisters, Te Pu o Te Wheke, SCAPE, Ōtautahi 2023. Photo: Pati Tyrell,}  
 

FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA is presented with support from Creative New Zealand and the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.

Asia TOPA is a joint initiative of Arts Centre Melbourne and the Sidney Myer Fund, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Playking Foundation and the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.