The Quarry (from ‘L’a’u Pele Moana (My darling Moana)’ series

Edith Amituanai’s photography creates sites of social connection and belonging, particularly for the largely under-represented Pasifika, youth and refugee communities among whom she lives and works in Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad. Her images often take the form of portraits and are co‑created with their subjects to make visible the ways in which these individuals and communities picture themselves and the world they live in.

For ‘La’u Pele Moana (My darling Moana)’ 2021, Amituanai worked with friends and family based in Auckland to explore Moana (the Pacific Ocean) as a place of longing and aspiration. Amituanai was especially interested in looking at the dreams and realities of Samoans who have travelled – or want to travel – across this ocean to Australia, ‘the land of milk and honey’. The daughter of Samoan parents, Amituanai grew up in Auckland, in the largest Polynesian diaspora community in the world. Within this community, Australia is often considered the next big step, and many Samoan families have members residing across the three island nations. Through video and a series of images printed on easily folded and shipped organza, Amituanai’s new work explores the desire for this Antipodean crossing.

The series title comes from the name of a 1981 song ‘La’u pele Moana (My darling Moana)’ by legendary Samoan band the Golden Ali’is, expressing the remorse that flows from having lost a lover due to an act of unfaithfulness. (In Samoan, Moana is also a woman’s name.) The song can be read as a love song for the lands and connections left behind in pursuit of new opportunities, and as a lament for the ways in which we are unfaithful to the ocean that is so fundamental to life.