Ioane Ioane
Malosi, 2021
Totara wood, varnish
550 x 550 x 1000mm
Price on request
Malosi - Jewels, 2021
Totara wood, varnish
450 x 600 x 600mm
Price on request
Malosi - Jewels is proudly presented in association with Whitespace Gallery
Ioane’s multi-disciplinary practice involves sculpture, painting, installation and performance and reveals how the past informs current behaviour, expectations and obligations. His artistic output is thus rich with meaning and firmly rooted in Samoan culture, where ‘the va’ is the guiding principle. The va is a place of affirmation, the spiritual space between two cultures, between people and the environment, the connections between past and present.
Ioane talks of returning to his birthplace of Samoa after a 50 year absence; “coming back to my roots, practising the language, connecting with my ancestors and family back there had a profound impact on me.” Here he realised why he had always been drawn to maritime projects, with this profound connection to the ocean.
Ioane’s 2002 installation at the Auckland City Art Gallery, Fale Sa, included 500 carved cowry shells and three wooden totems, shown with a watery audio-lightscape. Malosi (Samoan for strength) evolves from this work. Cowry shells are of great importance in many cultures as currency, decoration and a symbol of strength, usually interpreted as male strength. Here, Malosi celebrates the strength of women from childhood through maturity to old age. Ioane comments: “‘Malosi’ is most often seen, or portrayed, as the physicality of the male . . . The reality of soul-strength lies predominantly in women. If men are receptive, they too can find the strength of their women ancestors - the woman-spirit in all. Why else would nature be ‘mother’?”
The coiled energy and calm presence of these carved totara forms as they sit beside the watery expanse of the lake, are grounded in the artist’s past, drawing strength and offering the possibility of transformation and growth. The smaller, darker of the two shells is dedicated to a dear friend of the artist and is called Jewels.
More from this artist
Artist Bio
Ioane Ioane's multidisciplinary practice acknowledges the spiritual and transitional nature of va (‘space between’ in Samoan). Ioane completed a Bachelor of Fine Art from Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland in 1985. In 1996 Ioane, was the finalist for the Saatchi and Saatchi Art Awards and in 2005 he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Prize for Innovation and Excellence Art Award. As well as receiving a number of public commissions, his work belongs in several private and public collections including the Cambridge Museum of Anthropology, England, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland and Tijibou Cultural Centre, Noumea.
Based in Auckland, Ioane's multidisciplinary practice involves sculpture, painting, installation, and ritual performance and often acknowledges the spiritual and transitional nature of space (the va) as a place of transformation to birth and becoming. Ioane has commented, "Sacred spaces are not necessarily a church, but it's a place where one likes to be in, a place of affirmation.”
