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Fala Kuta e Toa Ko Tavakefai'ana 2024

Accession No.
2024.310
Date Created
2024
Gallery location
Not on public display
Department
Pacific Art
Dimensions A
1,432 x 335cm (approx.)
Media Category
Fibre
Medium
Kutu culms (eleocharis dulcis), lou'akau (dried pandanus)
Place Created
Tonga
Credit Line
Purchased 2024 with funds from the Oceania Women’s Fund through the Queensland Art Gallery l Gallery of Modern Art Foundation

‘Aunofo Havea Funaki 
Born 1972, Vava‘u, Tonga
Lives and works in Vava‘u

Lepamahanga Women’s Group
Established 2016, Tu‘anuku village, Vava‘u
 

The inhabitants of Tu‘anuku village in Vava‘u, Tonga, are recognised as the custodians of the nation’s largest freshwater ecosystem, which surrounds Ano Lake. Integral to this role is the practice of weaving kutu (Chinese water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis), through which the slender freshwater reeds are periodically harvested and carefully processed as a fibre for mats and wearable textiles of significant cultural value.

‘Aunofo Havea Funaki was born and raised in Tu‘anuku village. Funaki lead the design and creation of Fala Kuta e Toa ko Tavakefai‘ana 2024, created with the Lepamahanga Women’s Group. For Funaki, this collaboration is the realisation of a longstanding aspiration to support her community to revisit and celebrate the potency of their local stories, resources, knowledge and shared responsibility of custodianship.

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