Kulimoeanga 'Stone' Maka - 'Ngatu Tu Uli / The Past Is Now'
Mair Gallery, 5th–22nd November 2008
Although Western art over the past 100 years has been largely informed by an avant-garde practice that has valued the idea of breaking with tradition to create or construct new and innovative works of art, numerous non-Western cultures perceive the arts to be informed by the voice and presence of the past.
In Ngatu Tū ‘Uli. The Past is Now, Tongan-born artist Kilimoe’anga Stone Maka presents a body of work that draw from the cultural history of the Pacific through the tradition of non-figurative black tapa, a sacred and dying art form from the Kingdom of Tonga.
Maka immigrated to New Zealand to study at the Whitecliffe College of Art and Design (1998-2001) and in 2002 he attended the Manukau School of Visual Art, graduating Bachelor of Visual Art from the University of Auckland in 2005. He has completed numerous private commissions and awards, including the Margaret Stoddart Prize in 2008. He was also commended in the Martin Hughes Award at the Martin Hughes Contemporary Pacific Art Exhibition in Auckland in 2007