Awakening the Aitu:

Featuring Opening Remarks by HE Kristina Jonek (Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Wellington) and a Concluding Reflections by HE Afamasaga Toleafoa (Sāmoa High Commission).

Join us on Friday, 6 November at 11:00 AM in the Mata‘AITU (voyeur) exhibition at Pātaka Art+Museum for a powerful full-circle conversation between artist and anthropologist.

• Introductory Remarks: HE Kristina Jonek, Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Wellington
• The Talanoa: A profound dialogue between pioneering Samoan multi-disciplinary artist Lindah Lepou and German cultural anthropologist Dr. Hilke Thode-Arora (Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich).
• Concluding Remarks: HE Afamasaga Toleafoa, Sāmoa High Commission, Wellington will bring the event to a close with final reflections.

Light refreshments will be provided after the Talanoa

About the Speakers

Lindah Lepou is a pioneering, multi-disciplinary Samoan artist and designer renowned for her groundbreaking concept of Pacific Couture. Her practice seamlessly weaves heritage, high fashion, and raw storytelling to confront complex historical truths. Her current exhibition at Pātaka, Mata‘AITU (voyeur), is the culmination of a deeply personal journey tracing her ancestral lineage back to the colonial human zoos of Siamani Germany.

Dr. Hilke Thode-Arora is a German social and cultural anthropologist, curator, and Head of the Oceania Department at the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich. She is the author of the landmark monograph From Sāmoa with Love? Sāmoan Travellers in Germany, 1895–1911 (2014), which heavily informed Coconet TV's documentary episode "Exotic Savages On Show – Samoans in Human Zoos of Europe". Her extensive research into the historical Völkerschau (colonial human displays) provided the vital archival foundations for Lepou’s research trip to Germany, directly inspiring the exhibition.