14 Nights on the Matua: Solo show by Naomi Faifai | 18 November - 5 December 2022
Naomi Faifai is a self-taught mixed-media artist whose practice draws on her Samoan and Māori heritage, including her Rāngitane o Wairau connections. In 14 Nights on the Matua, she explores family history through Siapo (tapa cloth) patterns and the everyday rituals of life. Cars, flowers, dogs and houses recur in her work, rendered in her signature bright, bold colours.
The series takes its name from her grandfather’s 14-night voyage aboard the banana boat Matua from Savaia, Lefaga Village, Upolu, Samoa, to Auckland in 1959. Through these works, Naomi reflects on the journey, cultural memory and the connections that shape identity.
This body of work was presented in Naomi’s debut solo exhibition at Frame Workshop & Gallery’s Herne Bay gallery.
