Tonga's Stronghold is its Heart: The photographs of Emily Mafile'o

Abstract

"To some art audiences Emily Mafile'o is relatively unknown, but for others, including myself she is revered as the first Tongan artist to be included in the Auckland Triennial. Since 1999, Malife'o's practice has traced aspects of Tongan culture, as it oscillates between Aotearoa and the homeland, producing multiple bodies of work in both the Kingdom of Tonga and in New Zealand. The personal becomes the political, both in the intimacy of the photographer's relationship with families, and in the network of family and friends she depicts to create a form of self-portrait."