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Free entry

The Living Art of Pacific Tattoo
Curated for The New Zealand Steel Gallery by Steven Ball

Opening: Saturday 3 July 2010 at 11am.

Anu Pat, Mooria.

The “Living Art of Pacific Tattoo’ exhibition is an established body of work curated and set up Steven Ball who is actively involved in projects at Te Papa in Wellington.
This exhibition focuses on the art of documenting ta moko, tatau, tatu and tattoo within the communities living in New Zealand and the Pacific. The exhibition premiered at the 2005 Tattoonesia Festival in Moorea. In 2006 the show traveled to Paris, Milan, London, then Auckland City and Mangere.
Steven has actively continued with his work and the exhibition kept growing as new images have been acquired and arranged to chronologically sit within the series. 
This exhibition features work from artists from New Zealand, Hawaii, including

Mark Adams, Tricia Allen, Greg Semu, Riki Manuel, Areta Wilkinson, Jason Hall, Marsha Angou, James Pinker, Makarita Urale, Steven Ball, Makiko Kuwahara, Miki Magasiva, Lisa Taouma and Mark McLean.

“All of these artists were chosen because of their commitment and passion for documenting living tatau and ta moko tattoo cultures in the Pacific” says Ball.

This exhibition will also feature a live Tattoo artist doing work in the gallery so the public can come and view the actual techniques and practices and converse with the artists at work.
UPDATE: We regret to advice that due to unforeseen circumstance the tattoo artist schedule has cancelled their appearance at this event.  We deeply apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused.

Ball says that this exhibition has attracted a huge variety of people in the past but he gets very excited about the interest from young people.  Tattoo has become so in trenched in popular culture around the globe and this of course is the language of the youth.  But it is once you realize the intricacies of the actual language of symbols and meanings that have existed in their own cultures for hundreds of years that you can use this medium as a tool for youngsters to re-identify with their heritage.
You want kids to see how amazing the longevity of this art is and how meaningful the symbolic markings are of their culture.  Some of the visual imagery exists in all aspects of Pacific culture so you can read meanings everywhere.
The exhibition is supported by the Creative Communities Funding Scheme and opens on Saturday 3 July 2010 at 11am and finishes on 31 July 2010.

FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR ARTS PROJECTS

COGGS Funding Scheme is now open for applications too! 

FACLT is NOT an administrator for this fund so you need to follow the instructions below:

To request a paper application or for more information, freephone 0800 824 824.

Due to a large quantity of applications being submitted into our office towards the end of July we would really appreciate it if you could submit your applications before this time.

After you have applied send your additional information within 10 days to Local Government & Community Branch, P O Box 76 451, Manukau City 2241.

Creative Communities funding

Do you have an arts & cultural project which needs financial support? The next closing date for applications to the Creative Communities funding scheme is Friday the 17th of July. If you would like an application form please click here.

For more information on the funding criteria, please click here.