Art in photographs
Tuita’s childhood memories in Tonga are a driving force in his work
FROM his migration story to the complexities of his own diasporic experience, artist Telly Tuita’s childhood memories in Tonga are a driving force in his work.
In his first solo exhibition in Australia at the Campbelltown Arts Centre, the artist explores the broad, and often complicated, experiences of the diaspora.
“I think my memories of childhood have become more prominent because it was really pretty much just me,” Mr Tuita told Nesia Daily.
“You know, most people coming from the islands, you’ve got your brothers and sisters, you’ve got your uncles, aunties, you’ve got your parents with you.
“You know, that journey from Tonga to Australia was pretty much by myself.”
Mr Tuita arrived in Australia at nine years old to meet a father he had never seen. His mother had left him as a young child, back in Tonga. It was his grandfather who had found him in the villages, and sent him to Minto, in New South Wales, to meet his father and stepmother. The young Tuita, who didn’t speak English, arrived in Sydney — a sharp contrast to his island home.
“Once you leave your home. Tonga was the centre of the universe. In some ways, I suppose it is.
“But in having that journey being by myself, I’ve had to rely a lot more on my memories, and a lot more on instances in my life and questioning — who I am and also even the fact that I can’t speak Tongan anymore.
What is Tongpop?
Coined by Mr Tuita to describe his visual language, Tongpop celebrates his home and his deep connection to Tonga while exploring his lived experiences in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
His exhibition, Tongpop’s Great Expectations, pays homage to those memories. The term aims to reflect his experience of living in multiple worlds, a shared experience among many in the Pacific diaspora.
Having left Tonga as a child, his art practice connects him to his ancestral homeland.
“It’s just as simple as perpetually using the manulua pattern,” Mr Tuita said.
Manulua is the name for one of the oldest design patterns found in the making of traditional Tongan bark cloth.
“You know, I had to sort of connect to the non-physical things — I didn’t really have many people.
“So really the only things that I could connect to was history, objects, ideas, design.”