The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

THE PASIFIKA DIVAS SNAPPED UP Trust the words of the voluptuous, six-foot-six 'grande dame' of Pacific entertainment, 'Buckwheat' when she gives her belting rendition of 'You Gonna Love Me' to open the Pasifika Divas event at APT 2002. Pasifika Divas is an interdisciplinary project devised by Lisa Taouma that brings together a collective of Pacific Islander, Maori and Pakeha performers, designers and artists from Aotearoa New Zealand. The project comprises a series of short performance pieces, which present fashion and body adornment interspersed with live music and projections. The extravagance and political nature of the Pasifika Divas performance is intended to focus attention on the diversity of human experience in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand, and the way this inspires design in both fashion and body adornment. The fa'afafine community, to which some of the Divas belong, is a powerfully creative body - an intrinsic but largely under-recognised sector of the Pacific community. Fa'afafine translates as 'like a woman' in the Samoan language and denotes a complex gender identification. The Pasifika Divas collective consists of Sha-ne'ne', Buckwheat, Lindah E, Phylesha Brown-Acton and Shigeyuki Kihara, and presents the work of leading and emerging artists, body adorners and designers. These artists include Sofia Tekela– Smith, Niki Hastings-McFall, Alicia Courtney and Lara Kastelan. The still and moving projections are curated by Lisa Reihana with the visual backgrounds to the individual Divas' performances compiled by Lisa Taouma. 82 APT2002 Queens of the Pacific Poster Pacific Peoples Project, New Zealand AIDS Foundation Te Tuuaapapa Mate Aaraikore o Aotearoa, 1999 The following images are snippets of the Pasifika Divas flavour. They comprise sequenced video stills from past Diva performances and examples of the unique Pacific body adornments to be worn and exhibited. Included are snapshots of the artist Tekela-Smith wearing her own body adornments and engaging examples of Kihara's Pop-influenced art works. Amidst these are the 'Pacific peoples project' posters published by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation - a further testimony of the Divas' ingenuity in being able to communicate difficult and complex social concepts through humour and beauty. The Pasifika Divas - navigating life with confidence, grace, wit and splendour. Maud Page is Associate Curator, Contemporary Pacific Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery. Like our ancestors Poster Pacific Peoples Project, New Zealand AIDS Foundation Te Tuuaapapa Mate Aaraikore o Aotearoa, 1999