Here Together-Artist Talk With Salome Tanuvasa & Pusi Urale

Join us for a chat between Salome Tanuvasa and Pusi Urale, the two contributing artists of our current exhibition 'here together'.
For Tanuvasa, here together explores the conversations and energy of Ōtara, which she describes as a lively place made up of diverse cultures, full of laughter and joy. This area holds many memories for Tanuvasa as she spent time here completing her undergraduate studies in Visual Arts at M.I.T. To her Ōtara is a place that feels like home and has a sense of familiarity for herself and her family who are of Samoan and Tongan descent. Her paintings reflect the vibrant colours around Ōtara and its strong community. This collection of artworks is a celebration of its people.
Urale, as an artist in her 80’s, has expressed her delight in exhibiting with Tanuvasa. A dynamic conversation unfolds across their generational gap and through their use of colour and line.
As Urale explains “no matter what space, gallery, home, or suburb, ‘togetherness’ is always somehow achieved, and maybe it’s something that we as humans always aspire to. There is always something that draws people together to be in the same room or space, and my paintings reflect how togetherness might come about -sometimes we come together to mourn and cry, and other times we come together for comfort or dance”.
Salome Tanuvasa is an artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. Her parents migrated to Aotearoa / New Zealand in the early 1970s from Tonga and Samoa and she was born in Aotearoa / New Zealand. She works in diverse media from painting to large scale fabric banners. Tanuvasa has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. Selected solo exhibitions; ‘To find, to Meet’, Tim Melville, (2021) ‘A Study’, Tim Melville (2022). Selected group exhibitions: ‘Choose Happiness’, Murray Art Museum Albury, Melbourne AU (2021), ‘This is a library’, Enjoy Gallery, Wellington NZ (2020), ‘Here is your horizon’ Cement Fondu, Sydney AU (2019). Tanuvasa holds a Master of Fine Arts (honours) at Elam, University of Auckland (2014). Tanuvasa has a Diploma in Secondary Teaching - Visual Arts (2015) and is currently working as an Art Teacher at De La Salle College, Māngere.
At 84 years old, Pusi Vaele Urale is a Samoan artist who loves to explore abstract figures combined with the intricate patterns of Polynesian tattoos and tapa designs. Drawing on her memories of Samoa and her experience of making traditional tapa as a young girl she uses
acrylic on canvas in vibrant colours and Indian ink in her unique contemporary paintings.
A mother of six children involved in the creative arts and media, Urale is an outspoken free spirit and thinker. She is a retired schoolteacher who started painting in her 50's, exhibiting at a range of galleries and spaces in both Wellington and Auckland.
Today she lives in Avondale, and despite her fading eyesight, she continues to paint every day and is as passionate and spirited as ever.