Performance: Kelekele Mo‘ui (Living Soil)

Live performance: Kelekele Mo‘ui (Living Soil) - Wednesday 1 May, 10am - 4.30pm

Kelekele Mo‘ui (Living Soil) is a live performance by artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila. Developed following a residency in Heretaunga Hastings in mid-2023, the work responds to the ways in which people live off and labour on the land. The artist is interested in the presence of agricultural workers from the Pacific in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke's Bay, and the richness of soil as an elemental life-force and bedrock for sustenance.

‘Uhila’s performance will take place over six-and-a-half hours across the entrance to Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery in Civic Square, and the Gallery’s foyer and Holt Gallery. The public is invited to come and go during this time, with the performance culminating at 4.30pm.

Free, no booking required.

Kalisolaite ‘Uhila was born in 1981 in the Kingdom of Tonga. He lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. ‘Uhila has received widespread recognition for his outstanding contributions to contemporary performance art. In 2017 he won the contemporary Pacific Artist Award at the Creative New Zealand Pasifika Arts Awards and in 2014 he was nominated for the Walters Prize. He has been awarded artist residencies at Montalvo Arts Centre, California, 2018; Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, 2018, and ZK/U & Ifa Galerie Residency, Berlin, 2016. ‘Uhila was awarded the Harriet Friedlander Residency by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand to live and work in New York City from 2023-24.

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