Pasifika artists-in-residence at Te Ara Hihiko, Massey University’s new creative arts building in Wellington.

Duration of residency: Two weeks.

• Siliga Setoga (Samoa, Niue):
• Janet Lilo (Ngapuhi, Niue, Samoa)
• John Pule (Niue)

The artists will have open studio times when students can drop in to discuss their work. They will also give guest lectures and workshops for students. Mr Setoga will run a collaborative fala-su’i wool woven mat project. Ms Lilo, by contrast, will spin off a recent American reality TV show to challenge students to make a new art work from scratch using a mystery brief, random materials and a strict timeframe. Mr Pule intends to run a workshop entitled “Words into Worlds” that will explore how words can be translated into a visual language.

Massey Project: Janet Lilo

When I arrived at Massey I found my studio was located in a public space off the main foyer entrance area. I could see Mount Victoria on one side and the old fine arts building at the other. I quite liked the idea of being in a transit and public space and this helped me to respond to the things happening around me daily. As the second artist entering the temporal studio, I found a stack of empty Bonita banana boxes left behind (for me) by artist Siliga Setoga.

As a starting point, I decided to limit my making to only using materials found in the space. The below images documents this process from beginning to end.