Raymond Sagapolutele | |
|---|---|
 Sagapolutele in 2022 | |
| Born | Raymond Eddie Sagapolutele 1971 (age 52–53) |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Auckland University of Technology |
| Years active | Since 2003 |
| Known for | photography |
| Style | Photography and skulls |
| Website | www |
Raymond Eddie Sagapolutele (born 1971) is a New Zealand photographer and visual artist of Samoan descent, active as a photographer since 2003.
Sagapolutele was born in the South Auckland suburb of Ōtāhuhu in 1971, with ancestral ties to the villages of Fatuvalu in Savai’i and Saluafata in Upolu, Sāmoa. His early years were spent in Invercargill and Waikato, before the family returned to live in Manurewa in 1980. [1] From 2003, he worked as a staff photographer for the publications Back to Basics and Rip It Up, as well as regular submissions to The New Zealand Herald and Metro magazine. [2]
Over the past decade, Raymond has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout Auckland, and is also a proud member of the respected graffiti collective TMD.
Sagapolutele is a founding member of the ManaRewa art collective, which is based at Nathan Homestead in Manurewa. As a senior member, he actively tutors and supports the local arts community. [3] Sagapolutele completed his Masters in Visual Arts with first-class honours and received the Deans Award for Excellence in Postgraduate study from Auckland University of Technology. He is currently a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, where he has been teaching since 2020. [4] [5]
The camera is an important part of his practice as a Samoan-born New Zealander to reconnect his art to his Samoan heritage and the history of the Pacific. [4] Raymond found a passion for it when he took a photo of his brother's hip-hop group, the Deceptikonz, which was published in Rip it Up magazine. [6] This led to years of editorial photography work for Raymond, including a project in 2012 where he photographed his mother and sister, both of whom were dancers. This sparked the project, called Out Of Context, inviting the Pacific community to be photographed in their day-to-day lives, capturing their unique personalities and styles. Through this project, Raymond created a "star map" of contemporary Pacific people, showcasing the diversity and beauty of the community he belongs to. Sagapolutele uses skulls as a representation of ancestors from a Samoan perspective, and seeks to challenge western perceptions of skulls. [7] He wants to educate people about how Samoans view the skeletal remains of love ones, as for Pacific people, they are respected and dealt with in different ways by various cultures. The use of skulls is an important part of Sagapolutele's practice. [8]
Raymond's exploration of the blackness and the nothingness in his photography, drawing on Pacific scholars like Albert Wendt, is a testament to his unique perspective and dedication to his craft. [9] His Masters in Photography from AUT in 2018 allowed him to expand his work and interpretation, and showcase his understanding of the complexities of post-colonial identity. By using the camera as his visual language, Sagapolutele creates works that connect to the Samoan tradition of Fāgogo, or storytelling, and give voice to his unique perspective as a Pacific artist. [1]
South Auckland is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki Māori since at least the 14th century, and has important archaeological sites, such as the Ōtuataua stonefield gardens at Ihumātao, and Māngere Mountain, a former pā site important to Waiohua tribes.
Michael "Michel" Cliff Tuffery is a New Zealand artist of Samoan, Tahitian and Cook Islands descent. He is one of New Zealand's most well known artists and his work is held in many art collections in New Zealand and around the world.
Donna Tusiata Avia is a New Zealand poet and children's author. She has been recognised for her work through receiving a 2020 Queen's Birthday Honour and in 2021 her collection The Savage Coloniser won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The Savage Coloniser and her previous work Wild Dogs Under My Skirt have been turned into live stage plays presented in a number of locations.
Fatu Akelei Feu'u is a noted Samoan painter from the village of Poutasi in the district of Falealili in Samoa. He has established a reputation as the elder statesman of Pacific art in New Zealand.
Shigeyuki "Yuki" Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Samoan descent. In 2008, her work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; it was the first time a New Zealander and the first time a Pacific Islander had a solo show at the institution. Titled Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, the exhibition opened from 7 October 2008 to 1 February 2009. Kihara's self-portrait photographs in the exhibitions included nudes in poses that portrayed colonial images of Polynesian people as sexual objects. Her exhibition was followed by an acquisition of Kihara's work for the museum's collection.
Luise Fong is a Malaysian-born New Zealand artist.
Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka, is an interdisciplinary artist of Tongan heritage who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2011, he was awarded the Emerging Pasifika Artist Award from Creative New Zealand. Maka's work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries in New Zealand, Hawai'i Australia and Tonga. In 2020 he was selected to represent New Zealand at the 22nd Biennale in Sydney.
Andy Leleisi’uao is a New Zealand artist of Samoan heritage known for his modern and post-modern Pacific paintings and art. He was paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards in 2017 and awarded a Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in 2021.
Telly Bronson Tuita is an Australian and New Zealand interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent notable for 2020 Molly Morpeth Canaday award for the work Three Graces – U'ufoasini, Akale'a, Ta'alea creating. Later in 2021 becoming a finalist for the National Contemporary Art Award for work Diasporas Children Wellington. Also notable for the creator of the fictional word 'Tongpop' defined as a combination of Tuita's adoration for dazzling, distinct hues and traditional 'Tongan ngatu patterns and religious iconography.'
Benjamin Work is an artist from New Zealand with Tongan and Scottish heritage. He is well known for his murals across New Zealand, as well as his paintings inspired by his genealogy back to Tonga.
Bergman Gallery is an international commercial art gallery with an original gallery in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and a second gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. The gallery was first established in 2016 by Ben Bergman in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Bergman Gallery represents and has represented many significant international artists from New Zealand, Cook Islands and Australia, including Fatu Feu'u, Luise Fong, Andy Leleisi'uao, Reuben Paterson, Michel Tuffery, Billy Apple, Mahiriki Tangaroa, Sylvia Marsters, Benjamin Work, Lucas Grogan, Luke Thurgate and Telly Tuita.
Sylvia Lolita Cathrine Marsters is a New Zealand artist of Cook Islands descent. In 2003, she received a residency in the Cook Islands from Creative New Zealand, and she has exhibited in Rarotonga many times since, as well as in New Zealand, Fiji and New York. Her exhibitions draw big crowds in the Cook Islands.
Joan Elisabeth Gragg is a senior artist and educator from the Cook Islands, with painting career spanning five decades. She founded the Cook Islands' first and only premier art gallery, Beachcomber Contemporary Art, in 1991. Gragg graduated with a Master of Art and Design degree from Auckland University of Technology in 2010. There was an opportunity for Gragg to work towards a doctorate in art but she has discounted that for the meantime.
Louis Joseph Rivera Bretaña is a Filipino-born New Zealand painter and sculptor with roots in Manila and the Visayan province of Iloilo.
Tungane Broadbent is a Cook Islands artist, notable for her tivaevae/tivaivai, with her career making tivaivai spanning five decades. Broadbent founded the O’oa Fabric & Fibre Arts group in 2007, Rarotonga, to teach women to sew tivaivai.
Tanja Jade McMillan is a graffiti artist, and painter of Tahitian and Chinese descent best known as Misery, is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Ron Brownson (1952–2023), also Ronald Brownson, was a prominent New Zealand curator who contributed significantly to Māori and Pacific art and culture in New Zealand. Brownson was the Senior Curator New Zealand and Pacific Art at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Brownson also held status as a Queer elder and member of New Zealand's Gay Liberation Movement.
Sione Tuívailala Monū is an Australian and New Zealand interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent notable for their use of beads and flowers.
Kay George is a senior New Zealand and Cook Islands artist based in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. George is a major player in the development of the visual arts in the Cook Islands.
Rhea Maheshwari is an Indian and New Zealand artist notable for her colour palette of blues and purples pastels coloured dreamscapes, she primarily creates large-scale ornamental paintings that resemble tapestries. Maheshwari also draws inspiration from 17th- and 18th-century Mughal miniatures, especially their decorative and ornamental elements.