Leitī take centrestage at Pātaka

"Platforming queer Pacific artists and providing resources to art specifically made for and by us, ­in this case my project, ­ensures that we stay at the forefront of the discourse regarding our own lives,”—Manuha‘apai Vaeatangitau.

Koe Tau’atāina o e Leitī | The Freedom/Emancipation of the Leitī, opening on 18 November at Pātaka, is a solo exhibition by Manuha‘apai Vaeatangitau (also known as Manu Vaea). Manu is the current Aniva Arts Resident and her exhibition reinserts gender diversity into a long Tongan history.

Koe Tau’atāina o e Leitī | The Freedom/Emancipation of the Leitī resituates Leitī into a range of histories and contexts. Working across photography, video and textile paintings, Manu maps out multiple social and spiritual experiences. Leitī are portrayed in accounts of Tongan cosmology, in moments of erotic and platonic intimacy, and in spaces of beauty and full fantasy.

Together, each of the works reveal the depths of intimate connections and the expanse of contexts that Leitī experience.

The exhibition extends from Manu’s presentation Tupu’anga o Leiti at Moana Fresh and St Paul St Gallery in Auckland, and each of the works expands our understanding of the lives and worlds of Leitī. Tau‘atāina, 2023, Two lovers: A Leitī Redux, 2023 and Tokonaki, 2023 are all works that reference Tongan culture. They are textile paintings on either faux bison leather or cowhide and are used as a speculative reimagination of ngatu: Tongan back cloth. The textile paintings tell Leitī stories within this visual reference to Tongan customary art. One painting portrays Leitī within a visual story of Tongan cosmology, while another depicts Leitī preparing food for a tokonaki (lunch).

The works also begin to signal Manu’s deep knowledge and interest in Tongan customs and ancestral knowledge. Throughout the exhibition, there’s a refusal to place Leitī at a distance or in opposition to Tongan culture. Another work, a photographic triptych titled They Thought It was Pretty, 2023, draws on familial stories of adornment that have a close relationship to beliefs in divine gifts. Featuring self-portraits of the artist wearing sisi (a Tongan waist adornment) and kahoa (a Tongan garland), the photographs also reflect the whimsy and playfulness of a Leitī indulging in the practice of adornment and beautification along a picturesque shoreline.

While many works reiterate the connection Leitī have to cultural and spirituality, the show is also rounded out by a video that traces the more grounded reality of Leitī experiences. Edited on a smartphone, the video A Mundane Manifesto, 2023, stitches together moments of Manu moving through the real world: carrying shopping bags, sunbathing outside with friends, visiting exhibitions.

Manu’s exhibition is the culmination of her 2023 Aniva Arts Residency, which offers a paid, three-month residency based with us at Pātaka to develop research and create a body of work or artistic collaborations. The Residency came about in 2021 as a partnership between Creative New Zealand and Pātaka to specifically support MVPFAFF+ artists. MVPFAFF+, an acronym coined by Niuean Fakafifine queer-rights activist Phylesha Acton-Brown, acknowledges the culturally-specific gender diverse concepts and terms across the Moana. Standing for Māhū, Vaka sa lewa lewa, Palopa, Fa'afafine, Akava'ine, Fakaleiti and Fakafifine, MVPFAFF+ points to the long existence of gender diversity within Moana cultures.

Ioana Gordon-Smith is Lead Curator at Pātaka.