Motherland Homeland brings together the work of Pilimilose Manu, 'Uhila Moe Langi Nai, Emily Parr, Monica Paterson and Siliga David Setoga, curated by Bonni Luafutu-Tamati.

Motherland Homeland is what we remember, what we forget, and what that says about who we are today. The exhibition brings together five Moana artists navigating their relationship to place and history, how their sense of belonging has been shaped, and the possibility of joy as a guiding value. Motherland Homeland creates a relational space to contemplate who we are and what we might take with us into the future.

The first configuration of Motherland/Homeland took place at HOEA! Whare Whakaatu Toi, a gallery in Turanganui-a-Kiwa centred on the exhibition of Māori, Moana and Indigenous art. The exhibition brought together a group of artists curated by Bonni Luafutu-Tamati (Operations Manager, Samoa House Library), supported by the HOEA! Whare Whakaatu Toi signature maximal exhibition design which focuses on creating a widely accessible audience experience. Motherland/Homeland provided space for artists to deconstruct what it means to be an ‘Islander’ living in Aotearoa through a tuakana-teina curatorial approach, where established and emerging artists could show side by side, emboldened through the kaupapa of HOEA! which privileges whanaungatanga over individualism.

Motherland Homeland comes to Enjoy in its second formation as part of an ongoing relationship of knowledge and resource sharing between Samoa House Library, HOEA! Whare Whakaatu Toi, and Enjoy Contemporary Art Space. Collectively, the spaces are working to create new, supportive and accessible ways of working within the arts for artists and arts organisations.

Curated by Bonni Luafutu-Tamati