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Red Hair Girl

Stowaway

Wellington 2012

Kalasolaite Uhila

Tongan born Uhila addresses his uncle’s arrival in New Zealand in the 1970s, after 4 weeks hiding on a ship. Over the four days of the Arcade the stowaway enacts his secretive survival process under 24-hour supervision: leaving traces of his activity in unexpected places. The performance encompasses the highs and many lows that take place for the stowaway, while he is locked in the shipping container. All the while he is surveyed through peepholes in the container walls and video links to other locations in Te Papa Tongarewa and City Art Gallery: an unwelcome body caught in the act of transgressing boundaries defined by architecture, technology and the state.

Tongan born Kalisolaite Uhila immigrated to New Zealand in 1990’s. His performance works are imbued with his island heritage and training in Tongan dance. He studied performance at AUT to understand the patterns and language hidden inside the body, which he recreates in his own works. In Pigs in the Yard Uhila addressed the impact of colonisation on the lives of Pacific people by co-habiting the installation with a live pig. In 2011 the work was awarded the Best Visual Arts award for its presentation in Mangere Arts Centre for the Auckland Fringe Festival, and was featured in The Performance Arcade 2011 in Aotea Square.

Construction – Annalies Zwaan
Acknowledgements
Russell Baxter, Filipe Tohi, James Pinker, Katrina Chandra and Chris Molloy at Mangere Art Centre, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington City Art Gallery, Naomi Singer, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust Sekona Faleafa, Fainga’a Taufa, Fusi Uhila Penisimani & Simuoko Langi, Tu’ineau Langi Cecilia Halaholo, John Vea and last but not least my beautiful wife Kalisi and daughter Lavinia Uhila

Supported by
Wellington Creative Communities Funding Bolton Hotel
Positive Pictures

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