Exhibition focuses on Pacific identity within Tauranga

ANCHORED: In her performance on opening night, Darcell wears and swings a skirt with sinkers attached. Photo/supplied

The focus of the new exhibition Make Me, at the Tauranga Art Gallery's Cube space from August 8 until October 31 is to highlight issues around Pacific identity and how that fits within Tauranga's environment and culture.

Artist Darcell Apelu's work explores perceptions of the Pacific body through identification, specifically that of "being other" within the social climate of New Zealand and the Pacific. She is a mixed medium artist of New Zealand, European, and Niuean descent, raised in Mount Maunganui. "My father is of Niuean descent and my mother is Pakeha," Darcell says.

"My work contests the position of constantly being 'other'. It explores my journey that has been shaped since being exposed to Pacific culture in Auckland and how I now view the space that I have come to occupy in Tauranga. "Hence the title for the exhibition. I rely on others to essentially make me in their own eyes - who am I? What do I represent? Who do I represent in my community? What categories do I fit into?" she says.

Darcell exhibits frequently while also teaching within the certificate of art and design, and the Bachelor of Creative Industries at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

Her art practice involves mediums such as moving image, sound, performance and installation. Her practice is informed by her experiences as an Afakasi female.

"The body plays an important role as I explore perceptions of the Pacific body, identity and of 'being other' within the social climate of New Zealand," she explains.

"I explore the duality of the Pacific community by means of an autobiographical perspective within the western masculine framework," she says.

The exhibition Make Me combines aspects of moving image, audio, and performance. Confronting audiences with this idea of 'the other' is further explored through Darcell's performances.

She has three performances planned, and a panel discussion planned around this exhibition, starting with a 20-minute performance named Lift on opening night, August 7.

A screening of the film Polynesian Panther is also part of the plans. More details can be found on the Gallery's website artgallery.org.nz