Adriana Māhanga Lear: Fafangu: To Awaken at Wollongong Art Gallery

Fafangu: To Awaken is a new body of work by queer Tongan-Australian artist Adriana Māhanga Lear.

The exhibition revitalises and re-imagines Tongan concepts and practices of ongo (sound), relating to mate (death), putu (funeral rites), and fonua (people and place). Using photography, video, sculpture, installation, sound and music, Lear interrogates the colonial archive to examine the legacies of Eurocentrism and heteropatriarchy on Tongan art forms.

Fakatakatōfā, the practice of waking chiefs and royalty from sleep with the fangufangu (bamboo nose-flute), is an artform that is imperative to the exhibition’s underlying philosophy. Lear engages this practice as a heliaki (metaphor) for the awakening of ancient knowledges and practices by walking backwards into the future.

Commissioned by Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. Presented by Wollongong Art Gallery

Image: Adriana Māhanga Lear, Fafangu ae Fangufangu—Awakening the Fangufangu, 2024 (detail), (Double pirogue des Îles des Amis, 1817. National Library of Australia). Courtesy of the artist.

Find out more: Adriana Māhanga Lear: Fafangu: To Awaken | Wollongong Art Gallery