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Lonnie's Story


Malaga and me.

In 1968 my family moved Grey Lynn to the outer suburb of Mt Roskill, it was one of the first new state housing projects that provided houses that young married people could buy. My parents took the opportunity and bought a new 4 bedroom house in Glass Road.


Cabin Fever - cabin bread and pegs.

I have a lot of great memories of my childhood days. Our neighbours on the right were Maori, Mr Wrathall whakapapa back to Taranaki and Mrs Wrathall back to England. On the left were the Fraser Clan, half Fijian and half Irish, and across the road, the Beasleys who whakapapa back to the Great Barrier Island in Waitamata. Total of combined kids including our family… 22 and then there were the Spicks, a palagi family of five that resided next door to the Wrathalls. We all attended the same primary and secondary schools, always walking to school together. We were a tight bunch, and our parents were too.


Cabin Bread

I was in retrospective, quite fortunate, to grow up in a diverse multicultural environment. Mt Roskill attracted many new immigrants and I never felt any different among the Polynesian, and Palagi kids, most of us were NZ born and took great pride in presenting and receiving our respective cultures. We used to put on little concerts, usually on the front lawn of the Frasers because most of their acre was in front of their house. The Maori Concert Party one week, the Hawaiian Hula Group the next. And we also used to hold our own athletic meets, the boys were very competitive.

Thats a small snippet of the environment that I was cultured into.


Coconuts

After a long stint as a graphic designer at a printing company I enrolled on a degree course at Unitec. I studied sculpture, furniture design, drawing and art history. The doors that this experience opened up to me are still flowing into my life experience. As a sculptor, my concept base is an integral component, to the making of arts works. The inspiration is fuelled by the deep passion I have for communicating visually the triumphs, (historical and contemporary) specifically those of Polynesian women. And remember from a NZ born perspective. I use mainly contemporary materials that reference the weaving and decorative elements of the Pacific.


Pigeons.


At present I am researching the Pigeon Snaring Mounds of Samoa. This is a collaborative project codename: VaHine Project. Our project was successful in the last Creative New Zealand funding round. So we are off to Samoa, Upolo and Savaii to investigate the myths that surround these incredible stone structures where the ritual of pigeon snaring was performed. Only chiefs of alii status were allowed to walk on the platforms, that are in some cases half the size of a rugby field. That's a lot of stone! There are a lot of proverbial sayings in Samoan that reference aspects structurally and ritually. From the healing of the fee sickness to the wars that raised the head of the goddess Nafanua. The whole village would move in land for the pigeon season and participate in the many celebrations and night dances depending on which chief was winning i.e. pigeons caught for the day. Many chiefs used to bet resources, like harvests, marriageable women and warriors. These festivities were basically outlawed by the missionaries of the day; they saw it as a pagan and uncivilised event.


Mound.

That's a fragment of the research we've done. I get so excited and sometimes emotional in a positive way, about the strength, beauty and innovation of our / my people. When I quote my people it's not about ownership or exclusiveness. I'ts about pride and passion.


Pulemelei.

I will keep you updated on VaHine Project developments on this site. If you are interested in Contemporary Pacific Island Art visit the links I have provided:

www.pacificart.co.nz
www.tautaipacific.com