White Night at Okaioceanikart

Ambitious abstract artists of Samoan ancestry present an alternative to the history of contemporary Pacific Island art in the AlterNative Samoans exhibition.

White Night, 12 March

Four male artists take a radical approach - Sekio Fuapopo, Nestor Opetaia, Sale Pepe and Nathan Suniula - by challenging the conventions of other Pacific Island artists and reinterpreting Pacific art.

Fuapopo, an American Samoan based in San Francisco, gained his BFA and Masters before any of his fellow exhibitors were born. Like noted Samoan painter Fatu Feu'u who has claimed Samoans were the original minimalists, Fuapopo grew up in the 1950s in a Samoan village. Both draw their inspiration from the ancestors. After working with Maori artists at hui in NZ since 1995, Fuapopo is joined by young 'AlterNative  warriors' Opetaia, Pepe and Suniula  to voice Samoan perspectives on contemporary issues.

Level 4 Gallery, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive

Image Credit: Artists Nathan Suniula and Sale Pepe. Courtesy of Marilyn Kohlhase