Enjoy highlights from the F.I.N.E Festivals opening fiafia night at the Mangere Arts Centre showcasing Pasifika LGBTQI+, MVPFAFF+ performing artists.

The festival itself ran over 3 days and was run by F’INE Pasifika Aotearoa Trust celebrating Pasifika rainbow and queer communities.

F.I.N.E festival featured a series of workshops, facilitating a space to exchange knowledge with the wider community, while also giving artists an opportunity to creatively tell their stories.

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Credits

Director - Shimpal Lelisi 

Camera Operator - Mary-Lou Raela 

Sound Operator & Editor - Sefa Taouma 

By Mabel Muller

A new art exhibition by a Samoan visual artist hopes to challenge people’s perception around skulls and what it normally represents in the western culture.

Aua e te fefe - Don’t be afraid by Raymond Sagapolutele is currently on display at Auckland’s Bergman Gallery, showcasing a range of artworks centred around the image of a skull.

The exhibition is a culmination of Sagapolutele’s art and photography work over the last few years and represents his journey of exploring his identity as a Samoan in Aotearoa and how he fits in.

Sagapolutele said the skull, which is usually perceived as a prop to frame horror, can be viewed in a different light when seen through a Samoan lense.

“When I first started doing this I was looking at it from a Samoan perspective in relation to what the bones of our ancestors represent…

“Liutofaga is an old practice where in Samoa, because you have family graves, they would sometimes reuse the plot and so there’ll be a process of re-interring your previous family members.…more

For 22 weeks, nearly 200 young people from around the Gold Coast & Brisbane area, gave up the majority of their weekends to learn about their Samoan culture through song & dance at the largest Samoan performing arts school in Queensland - Vasa Gold Coast 

The peforming arts school group whose ages ranged from 5 - 21 years then presented a fiafia showcase at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre on the 30th of September 2022 in front of a packed arena.  The show also featured recently crowned Miss Samoa 22/23 Haylani Pearl Kuruppu who performed a solo dance to 'Sosefina' and the taualuga at the conclusion of the performance.

We spoke to Lapi Mariner and Logovi'i Tupa'i who tutored vocals and taught the group Samoan songs, about their experience with the show and why it's important for our children to know their culture and heritage.  (Video above)

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You can check out the full performance from the night below.…more

In this episode of Behind The Jersey, NZ sports reporter Kirstie Stanway speaks in-depth to Black Fern Niall Williams about her journey both on and off the field.

She shares the high’s of playing the sport she loves and the low’s of missing out on competing on the world stage at the Tokyo Olympics due to injury which then left her questioning her belonging.

This is the first time she has shared her story.

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Find Help Here - findahelpline.com or Call/ Text 1737. You don't have to do this alone.

Over a decade ago, Fogālepolo Lepou (Paul) and wife Joan decided to pack up and move from New Zealand to Samoa, driven by a duty to his mother, Su’a Siapo Suisui Faiga Ripley Lepou, and her restless dreams of making something her family land in Fasito’o-uta, Samoa.

What started off as an exercise in honouring a parents’ wish eventually evolved into a journey of self discovery for Paul, who found himself re-connecting with his culture, family and the land. Paul and Joan built and developed the Ifiele'ele Plantation, a stunning organic farm retreat offering accommodation.

Today it is a living tribute to an inherited dream and a celebration of the inextricable bonds between family, land and traditions in Samoan culture.

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Film credits:
Created with funding support from World Bank Pacific for the SAFPROM Project
Film maker/Editor: Denisa Manaskova
Producer: Liz Ah Hi/ Fine Mat Creative