Vunilagi Vou 2.0 - Restart

As a platform for the curatorial work of Fijian-Pākehā curator Ema Tavola, Vunilagi Vou 2.0 draws on 16 years of professional practice working in public galleries and museums. With no institutional affiliations, and minimal project specific funding for the coming financial year, Vunilagi Vou 2.0 is calling on the wider community of appreciators of contemporary Pacific art and the curatorial craft, to invest in a space dedicated to decolonisation and indigenous potential.

Our Story

Vunilagi Vou was established in Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland, as an independent gallery and retail space in May 2019. Running a high turnover exhibition programme, alongside workshops and events, the momentum for this small operation was building at speed, until March 2020.

As an organisation centred on people, and creating opportunities for South Auckland and indigenous communities to participate and engage in contemporary art and its discourses, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced a re-think of how we serve and protect our communities of artists and audiences. The decision was made to close the commercial premises in Ōtāhuhu and re-contextualise the gallery within the home.

Our Restart

Vunilagi Vou 2.0 is a revised space; a refurbished 1950s garage, set within the surrounds of a mature garden in suburban Papatoetoe. Functioning in this setting has changed the parameters of how exhibitions are made and presented, and the ways art meets audiences. (Read more here). After six months of hard graft, Vunilagi Vou 2.0 is re-opening on Fiji Day, October 10th, 2020.

Positioned now as a private appointment-only exhibitions gallery rather than a public art space, the ability to draw on public funding to support programming is significantly reduced. Participation and accessibility are no longer the operational or curatorial frameworks they once were, and exhibitions have the opportunity to be made and presented, documented and celebrated in new ways.

Vunilagi Vou is a passion project, born from almost two decades of experience and participation of artist-curator, Ema Tavola, in the Pacific art space both in Aotearoa New Zealand and Fiji. It is built on a robust community of artists, activists, appreciators, writers and change makers. Exhibitions and events, whether private or public facing, create safe space for thinking and networking, nurturing and challenging both artists and audiences. The curatorial programme considers both the site of Manukau / South Auckland, and our space as indigenous people within the wider Moana Oceania region and the world.

Our Plan

Vunilagi Vou 2.0's programme for 2020/2021 is a parred back version of what was delivered in our first year of operation, which was 'full speed, no brakes', as we say in Fiji. The exhibitions planned for Vunilagi Vou's new chapter are longer, deeper dives into the realm of contemporary art making for indigenous producers.

In 2020/2021, we have a mix of solo and group exhibitions planned. Our exhibitions programme offers artists the opportunity to work closely on the curatorial framing of their work to develop and refine ideas for new work. Simultaneously, exhibitions offer audiences new ways to consider the act of making, the art of presentation and the ritual of gathering, breaking bread and exchanging ideas.

Your Donation

Donating to a dedicated exhibitions fund for Vunilagi Vou 2.0 will substantially enhance what we can deliver and the service we provide to artists. The fund will exclusively support delivery costs associated with producing exhibitions, enabling artists to dream big in the ways they want to see their ideas manifest in time and space. Funds will also support the documentation and archiving of exhibitions as critical contributions to New Zealand and Pacific art history.