Tala o le tau

Tala o le tau brings together new and significant bodies of work by Angela Tiatia, Yuki Kihara and women from the Moata’a Aualuma Community that collectively explore themes of climate crisis, matrilineal histories and indigenous knowledge systems.

The exhibition’s title Tala o le tau, meaning ‘stories from the weather’ in Sāmoan, is borrowed from the poetic translation of ‘weather forecast’ commonly used by Sāmoan weather services. It is also the title of Kihara’s new series of embroidered pandanus mats, displayed here for the first time, which render infrared satellite imagery of tropical cyclones occurring in and around Sāmoa, over the last decade. Kihara has worked collaboratively with women from Moata’a Aualuma Community, a group of skilled weavers and embroiderers based in the central north coast of Upolu Island, Sāmoa, in the creation of these five vibrantly coloured mats. Also called fala su’i, (embroidered mats) these reflect a collective and community approach towards issues of climate change on the islands and the importance of Pacific indigenous perspectives in global dialogues.

Angela Tiatia’s moving image work The Dark Current (2023) explores the intersection of colonialism, femininity and our relationship with the virtual and physical realm. The three-part video acknowledges the past, present and future through a Sāmoan lens and features water as a central tenet to address matrilineal ancestors and their experiences of migration. Foregrounding a network of Oceanic kinships, Tiatia figures Pacific femininity as one of sea-like simultaneity: strength, sensuality, glamour, and creative power. The film captures the dark and chaotic feeling of the current moment whilst proposing a tomorrow where Pacific peoples have total authority over their histories, present and future.

Faced with the reality of increasingly frequent and devastating weather events that threaten life and livelihoods in the Pacific, these artists explore the relationship between gender, creative practice and indigenous knowledge systems as a tool to navigate into an uncertain future.

Gus Fisher Gallery would like to acknowledge the support of Toi Aotearoa Creative New Zealand towards Yuki Kihara and Moata’a Aualuma Community’s newly commissioned work. Additional works from Kihara’s ‘Tala o le tau: Stories from the weather’ (2025) series will be presented at Gow Langsford in July 2025.

Angela Tiatia’s The Dark Current was originally commissioned by The Ian Potter Cultural Trust under the Ian Potter Moving Image Commission for exhibition by ACMI (Australian Centre for Moving Image). With thanks to Dunedin Public Art Gallery for enabling its showing at Gus Fisher Gallery.