Pasifika artists celebrated at awards ceremony at Parliament

Senior Pacific Artist Award | Tusiata Avia MNZM 

Tusiata Avia is a writer, poet and a performer who has won acclaim nationally and internationally for her bold, fearless, and often funny work. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and the arts in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Tusiata draws on her personal life and her Samoan (Matautu, Lefaga) and New Zealand European heritage to tell stories that others can’t or won’t. In the space of just five books, she has developed a reputation as one of Aotearoa's most acclaimed poets. 

Her firsts as a female Pasifika poet include winning the 2021 Ockham Book Award for Poetry with The Savage Coloniser Book and receiving the 2023 Prime Minister's Award for Literature (Poetry).

Pacific Heritage Arts Award | Signature Choir

Co-directed by Fepuleai Helen Tupai and Jadrah Tupai, Signature Choir was founded in 2018 to display and highlight the beauty and vibrancy of Pacific languages and cultures.  

The choir promotes Pacific language and culture through performing Pacific music in unexpected ways, merging traditional Pacific songs with classical instruments.  

Signature Choir developed and performed the ‘Mana Moana’ showcase of traditional Pacific song with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.  The choir was awarded the ‘Best Gospel Artist’ award at the 20th Pacific Music Awards in August 2024.

Pacific Toa Award | Falefatu Carreras Enari 

Falefatu’s artworks are often a narration of his lived experience of being a Pasifika person with disabilities. Modern and traditional Pasifika motifs are woven through his work to depict his identity and experiences. 

Starting at Mapura Art Studio in 2010 was a turning point for Falefatu. The studio nurtured his artistic abilities, and he began creating bold and vibrant paintings. 

Falefatu is the son of the late opera singer Iosefa Enari. Creative New Zealand presents the Iosefa Enari Memorial Award as part of the Arts Pasifika Awards, recognising excellence in classical music.

Pacific Toa Award | Max Stowers 

Max is a Pasifika musician and composer who has contributed to the music industry in New Zealand and globally for over 45 years. 

Max has contributed to his Pacific community by mentoring and tutoring young Pasifika musicians and is a role model for emerging talent. 

 He was one of the first composers in NZ to release a Pacific jazz album, Malaga. The album is entirely his own original music and infuses Pacific instruments such as log drums and ukelele to create his unique sound.

Max’s latest project is orchestral arrangements of 1950s and 1960s music with the popular Pacific music that interweaves his own fanau's historical musical journey.

Pacific Contemporary Artist Award | Edith Amituana’i MNZM 

Edith uses photography and film to tell the stories of Pacific people around the world.  In 2007, she was the inaugural recipient of the Marti Friedlander Photography Award, and the following year she was the first Walters Prize nominee of Pacific descent for her exhibition, Dejeuner. 

In 2019, Edith became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to photography and community. Her first major survey exhibition, Edith Amituanai: Double Take, opened at the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington the same year.

Edith is now using film as another way to tell interesting, compassionate and powerful stories about Pacific experiences.

Special Recognition Award | Leafa Wilson

Leafa Wilson aka Olga Hedwig Krause has an artistic career spanning 40 years. She is an accomplished artist, art curator and writer, as well as being revered for her experimental performance and installation art. She is a New Zealand-born Samoan (Vaimoso/Sinamoga/Fasito’otai) and her Pacific heritage is central to her practice.

Alongside her career-building work, Leafa has contributed to the ongoing vitality of Pacific arts through her involvement in community groups, workshops, and projects. 

Leafa’s paintings have been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. 

Iosefa Enari Memorial Award | Emmanuel Fonoti-Fuimaono

Emmanuel is a New Zealand-born Samoan opera singer who is having great success early in his career as an operatic tenor.

Emmanuel was introduced to opera in 2013 through the Project Prima Volta Youth Initiative. 

By 2022, he was a finalist in the Lexus Song Quest, winning the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Prize for Potential. A few months later, he won the Lockwood New Zealand Aria Competition. Last year he won Australia’s premiere singing competition, the Sydney Eisteddfod Opera Award, competing against singers with decades more experience. 

Emmanuel has worked with most opera companies in New Zealand with roles in La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Macbeth. 

Emerging Pacific Artist Award | Sione Tuívailala Monū

Sione Tuívailala Monū (they/them) is an artist of the Tongan diaspora whose practice explores identity, family and Pasifika queer experience in the diaspora.  

Sione lives between Canberra and Auckland and works across the mediums of photography, moving-image, fashion and adornment, and performance.

They layer narratives to reflect on philosophy, social media and daily life, creating unique works that connect with audiences in a real and immediate way.