Sione Monū

Sione Monū
Born
Sione Tuívailala Monū

1993 (age 32–33)
Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand
Known forinterdisciplinary art
Stylebeads and flowers, video

Sione Tuívailala Monū (born 1993 Auckland, New Zealand) is an Australian and New Zealand interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent notable for their use of beads and flowers.[1][2]

Biography

Monū grew up around Australia, as their father's job was in the Australian Defence Force. Their mother is an avid collector of Tongan crafts, adornments and ngatu (bark cloth). Their family's ancestral village is Kanokupolu, on the main island of Tongatapu.[3][4] As a child, Monū enjoyed experimenting with materials, "Flowers as a material and symbol have always been something I’ve responded to since I was a child." Monū was not taught how to make Tongan crafts in a traditional way, so they developed their own interpretations with materials they had at hand.[5]

Monū was previously a member of FAFSWAG, a South Auckland-based queer Pacific arts collective, participating in several of its exhibitions between 2016 and 2017, including Making Space at the Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki, Christchurch, and Statuesque Anarchy at Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington.[6][7]

Monū lives between Canberra, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, and works across the different mediums of photography, moving-image, fashion and adornment, performance and drawing exploring identity, family and Pacific peoples' queer experience in the diaspora.[8]

Their 2020 audiovisual work Only Yesterday depicts both themselves and artist Manuha'apai Vaeatangitau as 'ultimate leitī' in a utopian reality, using crystals and beads as currency. [9]

Monū's photographic series Kafu Couture (2014–present) showcases household mink blankets, or kafu, worn as couture fashion pieces shot in an editorial style.[9]

Monū has shown their work in many art galleries throughout New Zealand and Australia, including Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Auckland Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery,[10] Māngere Art Centre,[11] and Bergman Gallery[12]

Awards

In 2024, Monū received the Emerging Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards, an annual ceremony hosted by Creative New Zealand and held that year at Parliament in Wellington.[13]

Selected solo exhibitions

  • 2023 – The Way We Were, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand[12]
  • 2023 – Stories, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand[12]
  • 2022 – Matariki Fetu’u, Kaukau, Wellington, New Zealand[14]
  • 2022 – Volver, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand[15]
  • 2022 – Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle (with Manu Vaeatangitau), Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[12]
  • 2021 – ’Ao Kakala Ōtautahi, SCAPE Public Art Season 2021, Christchurch, New Zealand[16]
  • 2021 – Leitī, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia[12]
  • 2020 – Kahoa Kakala, Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand[17]
  • 2020 – Speaking Surfaces, ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[9]
  • 2019 – More than all the oceans between us, Artspace, Sydney, Australia[9]
  • 2017 – Kahoa Kakala, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, Auckland, New Zealand[18]

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2023 – Tukufakaholo - Tongan Contemporary. Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[12][19]
  • 2023 – Queer Encounters, Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia[12][20]
  • 2023 – Pride and Prejudice… Part1, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[12][21]
  • 2023 – Oasis/respite, Studio One Toi Tū, Auckland, New Zealand[22]
  • 2022 – Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand[12]
  • 2022 – Twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects, Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand[23]
  • 2022 – Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle, Māngere Art Centre, Auckland, New Zealand[11]
  • 2020 – Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania 2020, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand[10]
  • 2016 – Social Matter, Blue Oyster, Dunedin, New Zealand[12]

References

  1. ↑ Mishan, Ligaya (2022-02-17). "The Queer Indigenous Artists Reclaiming a Fluid Sense of Gender". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  2. ↑ "Monū, Sione". findnzartists.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  3. ↑ Mancini, Huni (2020-09-15). "Tracing the rhizomatic threads in Sione Monū's Returning Traces: Our Ancestors Left Us Clues - un Projects". Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  4. ↑ Loo-Matamua, essa may ranapiri, Cameron Ah. "May Fair: Texts by Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua and essa may ranapiri". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 2026-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Monu, Sione Tuivailala (2021-11-08). ""We Make With Purpose": Sione Tuivailala Monu On Joy, Family & Tongan Crafts". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  6. ↑ Byrt, Anthony (2017-11-01). "CURVE BALL". Artforum. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  7. ↑ "Sione Tuívailala Monū, May Fair Art Fair". The Art Paper. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  8. ↑ "Sione Monū". Scape Public Art.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Tonga, Ane (2022). Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-86463-340-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  10. 1 2 "Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania". christchurchartgallery.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  11. 1 2 "Leitī". Eventfinda. 2021-04-03. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Sione Monū exhibitions". Mutual Art. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  13. ↑ "Pasifika artists celebrated at awards ceremony at Parliament". creativenz.govt.nz. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  14. ↑ "Sione Monū". www.kaukau.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  15. ↑ "Dreamy Era". The Art Paper. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  16. ↑ "'Ao Kakala Ōtautahi, 2021 by Sione Monu - SCAPE Public Art". 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  17. ↑ "Kahoa Kakala — Objectspace". www.objectspace.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  18. ↑ Punch, Pantograph. "The Unmissables: Four Exhibitions to see in August". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  19. ↑ "Tukufakaholo - Tongan Contemporary". Artnow. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  20. ↑ "Every Fabulous Sydney WorldPride Event To Put In Your Calendar ASAP". marie claire. 2023-02-07. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  21. ↑ ""Pride & Prejudice Part 1" at Bergman Gallery | Artsdiary 3872". artsdiary.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  22. ↑ "Event | The Centre". thecentre.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  23. ↑ "twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects". The Art Paper. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
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