The Pacific Sisters are a unique art collective that work across, performance, music, fashion, and film. They reached an important milestone in 2018 when a major retrospective of their work over the last 26 years was held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Members of the group are important artists in their respective fields and their work over the past decades has immense cultural value for the Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland region and has made wide impact nationally and internationally.

Tohu Tūpuna

'Tohu Tūpuna' is the vessel for all our ancestor’s past, embodying female, male and gender fluid ways of being. They are a Vā body creating a space where the genealogical matter comes together binding the past with the present, bringing the ancestral past into the NOW. 'Tohu Tūpuna' is in charge of their own destiny, representing spiritual, cultural and sexual autonomy, placing indigenous sovereignty & knowledge firmly in the centre of our busy modern lives.

'Tohu Tūpuna' is one of three new aitu / avatar along with 'Mururoa' and 'Supa Suga' that embody the kaupapa / philosophy of Pacific Sisters’ fashion activist works. Made by many hands, the collective has combined techniques and materials to adorn and bring life to the lyrics of three iconic waiata / pese / imene / songs written and sung by Sister Henry Ah-Foo Taripo."

The three aitu encapsulate longstanding and fundamental messages that are important to Pacific Sisters; of protecting the environment, indigenous sovereignty, having freedom of self-expression and encouraging the best from humanity, to be your own superhero.

Layers of handmade natural and industrial *accessification adorn each aitu and help to illustrate and express the concepts behind each waiata.

* Pacific Sisters term for adorning with accessories to excess (“more is more”).

Following information provided by Pacific Sisters:

“List of individual taonga measina and makers: (TBC)”