Edith Amituanai’s photography creates social connections and a sense of belonging for Pasifika, youth and refugee communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her images often take the form of portraits and are created in partnership with their subjects, so that these individuals and their communities feel visible and seen.

For her ‘L’a’u Pele Moana (My darling Moana)’ series 2021, Amituanai worked with friends and family in Auckland to explore the Moana (Pacific Ocean) as a place of longing and aspiration. The work was originally commissioned for ‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT10), at QAGOMA. The artist was especially interested in the dreams and realities of Samoans who have — or want to — travel across the Moana to Australia, ‘the land of milk and honey’.

The title of the work is taken from the 1975 song ‘La’u pele Moana (My darling Moana)’ by legendary Samoan band The Golden Ali’is. This iconic love song is about the sense of remorse that flows from having lost a lover due to an act of unfaithfulness. In Samoan, ‘Moana’ is the name of a woman, but also the term used for the Pacific Ocean. In the context of Amituanai’s images, ‘La’u pele Moana’ is a love song for the lands and connections left behind in pursuit of new opportunities. It is also a lament for the ocean and how we may have become unfaithful to it, even though it is fundamental to life.