Fafetu is a major exhibition of work by Tuvaluan master artist Lakiloko Keakea, including 40 new works made between 2016-2018. Fafetu is the first major solo exhibition of Keakea’s work building on a practice of over five decades and is accompanied by a number of papa (plain mats) created by West Auckland based women’s group Fafine Niutao i Aotearoa, of which Keakea is a member.

The exhibition highlights and celebrates artforms that are valued and used within the living Tuvalu communities and cultural contexts in Aotearoa; but also creates an awareness and understanding of who Keakea and Fafine Niutao i Aotearoa are; and of the significant role these women play as makers maintaining a strong connection to their heritage and homeland through their artforms of kolose and weaving. It also seeks to revitalise and strengthen the transmission of the knowledge and making practices of these art forms for younger generations of Tuvalu women in Aotearoa.

Lakiloko Keakea’s fafetu are kaleidoscopic – mesmerising, brightly-lit, and filled with an array of extraordinary patterns. The works featured in Fafetu have been created using a mix of manufactured and natural materials including wool, synthetic ribbon, cloth ribbon, and plastic cargo ties.  While Keakea takes a six or seven pointed star as her frame again and again, no two pieces are identical – their interiors are each intricately singular and individual.

Fafetu is a touring show curated by Malama T-Pole and presented by Objectspace, Auckland.