Toe Feiloa’i Afea? Etanah Lalau-Talapa

Considering notions of home and away, migration, refuge and manaakitanga (care), the title of Etanah Lalau-Talapa’s work, Toe Feiloa’i Afea?, translates from Samoan to When will we meet again? A simple question, of expansive nature. Speaking at once to concepts of personal, national and global relevance, Lalau-Talapa holds it all in view. A vantage point that could be likened to that of the Tuli bird (Pacific Golden Plover) as it journeys south, thinking of itself, its flock, where it comes from and where it is going.

It is from this same view that the artist begins her work, with a va’a (canoe) as seen from above. Sitting beneath the va’a are two crouched chimera figures with their strong thighs, paddle-like extremities and fine, Tuli bird heads. Few better embody concepts of distance, collective journeying and resilience than the Tuli. Migratory shorebirds known to travel more than 20,000 kilometres annually between Alaska and the Pacific, Tuli birds maintain a home in two places. And as they perpetually journey, they perpetually arrive, greeted by two homes in two ways. Lalau-Talapa centres this tikanga (custom); in Aotearoa New Zealand a wero (challenge) is laid before hospitality is offered, in Samoa the inverse; first a fresh drink in the form of a coconut.

Joining our shores resides the Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest oceanic space on the planet. Samoa’s National Invasive Alien Species System is tasked with monitoring its borders to protect its people and environments from invasive species. Lalau-Talapa asks however—what of the myriad alien ideas incessantly attempting to invade the backyard of Pacific Nations? 

For Lalau-Talapa, anchorage is found under the domed and thatched roof of the fale Samoa, or from Epuni (Lower Hutt), within her five-decade-strong congregation. In both instances, it is centred within community.  

Toi Tauranga Art Gallery is delighted to host Toe Feiloa’i Afea? which also, through pure happenstance, arrives and departs to the beat of the remarkable Tuli bird.