Ema Tavola (born 1982) is an artist, curator, arts manager and advocate using art to centralise '

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

ways of seeing'.

Early life and family

Tavola was born in Fiji. Her father is from

Dravuni Dravuni (pronounced ) is a volcanic island in the Kadavu Group of islands in Fiji. Covering an area of , it is located at 18.78° South and 178.53° East, and reaches a maximum altitude of . The island is inhabited by approximately 125 people a ...

in the Kadavu province of Fiji. Her mother is a third generation

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

from

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

in New Zealand. While she was growing up she also lived with her family in London and Belgium. As a teenager they moved to Wellington, New Zealand and she attended Wellington High School. After high school Tavola was having a gap year in Fiji and experienced the 2000 Fiji civilian coup.

Education and career

Returning to New Zealand, Tavola went on to study a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Manukau School of Visual Arts at

Manukau Institute of Technology Established in 1970, Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) () is a Category One Institute of technology in Auckland, New Zealand. Category One is the highest possible educational rating as evaluated by the New Zealand Qualifications Authorit ...

, and got a job with

Manukau City Council Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is also referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does not ...

after graduating. In 2006 she founded the Fresh Gallery in

Ōtara Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD, Auckland City Centre. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tāmaki River. The area is traditionally part of t ...

, Auckland as a partnership with Manukau City Council and the local community. In 2013 it re-opened after expansion.

Artistic career

Tavola has speaking engagements at conferences and other places. In 2019 she was a guest speaker at ''Para Site International Conference,'' Hong Kong, the ''Singapore Art Book Fair'' for NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore) and ''Spinning Triangles: Ignition of a School of Design'' for SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin, Germany / Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo). In 2019 Tavola opened an independent art gallery called Vunilagi Vou, the gallery closed in 2023. Tavola's artworks are held in

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

Curatorial work

* 2016 – ''Dravuni: Sivia yani na Vunilagi – Beyond the Horizon -''

New Zealand Maritime Museum The New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui A Tangaroa is a maritime museum in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Hobson Wharf, adjacent to the Viaduct Harbour in central Auckland. It houses exhibitions spanning New Zealand's maritime hist ...

* 2017 – ''Kaitani'' –

The Physics Room The Physics Room is a non-commercial contemporary art gallery in Christchurch, New Zealand, described as "one of the country's best-known contemporary experiential art spaces". It is primarily funded by Creative New Zealand, one of four contempo ...

(New Zealand) * 2018 – ''A Maternal Lens'' – 4th International Biennial of Casablanca (

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) * 2018 – ''Dravuni: Sivia yani na Vunilagi – Beyond the Horizon -'' Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies,

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...

(Fiji)

Awards and residencies

2017 – Pacific Studies Artist in Residence –

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

Macmillan Brown Centre

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavalo, Ema Living people New Zealand artists New Zealand curators Fijian artists People educated at Wellington High School, New Zealand 1982 births New Zealand women curators Fijian emigrants to New Zealand