'Amui 'i Mu'a: Ancient Futures

Led by contemporary masters Dagmar Vaikalafi Dyck and Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, this landmark exhibition includes new paintings, prints and sculpture displayed with historic artefacts in response to an engagement with Tongan collections overseas. 

As senior Pacific artists, Dyck and Tohi were chosen to represent a unique Marsden Project in Europe in 2018. Alongside other Tongan art experts and academic colleagues in New Zealand, Europe and the United States, they engaged with little known 18th century Tongan items in world collections for three years. 

The work made from these inspirational visits contextualises the art of Dyck and Tohi in Tongan art history but also within the broader spectrum of the New Zealand art world, while also reflecting on current issues of genealogy and identity.