On Mon 12 Aug, discover what it means to be a Pacific artist living and creating on Gadigal lands, and how our messages of solidarity, equity and social justice can be amplified in a culturally responsive way.
Stelly G (aka Seremia Adimate) is a Fijian multidisciplinary performance artist and filmmaker; Ray Tuifao Lalotoa is a Samoan painter and musician; and Hau Lātūkefu, son of first-generation Tongan immigrants, is an ARIA-winning hip hop and Australian rap legend and pioneer. These three dynamic multidisciplinary artists, musicians, storytellers and educators are from the Pacific diaspora, living and creating on Gadigal lands, and they are on campus at UTS for an unmissable open event on Mon 12 AUG at 3pm.
Join us for this inclusive talanoa (discussion) to explore how these multidisciplinary artists draw from their cultural heritage to inspire and advocate for change, and how they wield their creative talents and platforms as tools for activism and social justice. All are welcome to hear Stelly, Ray and Hau share their experiences of the power of storytelling and creative expression.
Following a panel discussion there will be informal networking and conversation with refreshments. Spaces are limited so register ahead.
Co-hosted by the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, this talanoa will wrap up the first day of the UTS Inclusion Festival.
DATE/TIME: MON 12 AUG 2024 - 3:30 PM - 5 PM
LOCATION: UTS ART GALLERY (702 Harris St, Ultimo, Peter Johnson Building - Building 6, Level 4)
AUDIENCE: UTS students, staff and friends
REGISTRATION: HUMANITIX/PACIFIC-ARTISTS- ACTIVISM
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Hau Lātūkefu is an ARIA-winning Australian hip hop and rap pioneer, radio host, producer, label-owner, mentor and the son of first-generation Tongan immigrants. Hau drew on the legacy of his name (meaning ‘King’) to become one of the nation’s most influential musical artists. He is best known as half of the duo Koolism and a tremendously successfully solo artist, as well as the longest serving host of triple j's hip hop program. Now working with emerging artists through his imprint of Sony Music, Forever Ever Records, Hau has remained a central part of Australia’s music scene for the best part of two decades. He is co-author of the acclaimed memoir 'KING: Life, Death and Hip Hop' (2022) published by Penguin Australia Books. (Image and quote from Penguin)
“Determined to be more innovator than imitator, the rhymes that eventually burst from Hau Lātūkefu’s volumes of notebooks and epic freestyle sessions with friends and co-conspirators would express what was happening in his backyard, in his community, in his voice. Along with DJ Danielsan, Hau would form Koolism, one of the seminal acts in Australian hip hop and winner of the ARIA’s inaugural Best Urban Release award in 2004.”
Stelly G by Lisa Hyams
Stelly G (aka Seremia Adimate) is a Fijian multidisciplinary performance artist, curator and filmmaker that foregrounds the Pacific-diaspora experience by interrogating colonial structures that have invited shame and forced us to neglect self-love, communal care, and understanding. Stelly has performed at Cement Fondu, Sydney Biennale, MCA, Sydney Opera House, Firstdraft, and Campbelltown Arts Centre, and in film and installation works with Garden Reflexxx. Her documentary directorial debut Mood Ring is the first feature directed by a Fijian woman and recently had its world premiere at the 2024 Sydney Festival.
“One of Eora/Sydney’s most beloved performance acts and curators, Stelly G uses phenomenology (the lived experience of human beings) to bridge the gap between traditional Fijian rituals, facilitating rites of passage in public settings, and outrageous expressions of queer joy.”
Raymond Tuifao Lalotoa is a Samoan painter and musician whose family migrated to the Western Suburbs of Sydney from Wellington, New Zealand at age 13. Lalotoa is lauded for his mixed media works which explore his fluency in urban and cultural pictorial languages. His art, which is never pre-planned, is a raw collision of the Sydney underground scene, politics, music and poetry with Lalotoa’s Pacific Island heritage creating a strong graphic language utilising a hypnotic colour palette. (Image and quote from Ditty Wheels)
“Ray Lalotoa’s life mission is to convey hope and a positive vibe through his art, to overcome pain with explosions wrapped in a soulful tornado of colour to inspire new feelings of peace, love and a new understanding of our collective humanity.”
Mood Ring Directed by Sereima Adimate aka Stelly G