Taking some Pacific Love to the USA

Our project is all about sharing our Polynesian culture and our inter-generational tapa art practice with America. 

 We are booked in April to host tapa cloth workshops at the California State University in Los Angeles and at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in Long Beach. We are New Zealand-based Tongan artists and my mother Sulieti Fieme'a Burrows, my daughter Aroha Heilala Gillies and myself are set to provide the opening workshop for the Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island Heritage Month 2025 at the University. 

 We also look forward to connecting with the Pacific diaspora in Long Beach and sharing with them our traditional techniques and heritage art, while also offering a unique Tongan tapa cloth experience for members of other ethnic communities and the wider American public.