Flat White Black Pearl

Title: 'Alofax3' Medium: Ink & Acrylic on paper By Cerisse Palalagi 2008

Nina Tonga viewing Artworks in the Flat White Black exhibition

Flat White, Black Pearl is being shown in Auckland as part of the month-long Celebrate Pasifika festival. Atypical of your usual expectation of Pacific culture in the visual arts, it will only feature works that are in black and white.

With almost 50 artists participating in the show, there are bound to be a few surprises about how the artists have chosen to express their ‘colour’ and cultural identity when confined to neutral tones.

Jim Vivieaere has curated the exhibition along with Leanne Clayton, herself an emerging artist and first-time curator.

While the curators concentrate on creating the physical and intellectual experience of the exhibition, the artists determine their own views on issues of race and identity as Pacific artists.

The exhibition invites people to take another look at the contrast of white and black, the personal expression of identity and wider issues of race and ethnicity.

Some Artists in the show include:
Cerisse Palalagi
Tuafale Tanoa'i /aka: Linda T
Ema Tavola
David Siliga Setoga
Metuanooroa Tapuni
Terry Klavenes
Niaval Ngaro

Lil'Mamas Art Klub at 'Come together'

This 'Tipare' styled braid was made by the Lil'Mama's Art Klub:
Maila Urale
Samantha Atasani
Ahi Rands
MeleMafile'o Uhamaka
Paula Schaafhausen

Cerisse Palalagi-New works contd.....

untitled3, ink on paper, 2008
untitled4, ink on paper, 2008

These works are part of an ongoing series of drawings towards My first year in the Masters of Art & Design program.
" These new works explore the notion of iconography in the context of contemporary Maori & Pacific Island Art in Aotearoa,through the mediums of printmaking & drawings with inks & paint."Cerisse Palalagi

Cerisse Palalagi-'New works'

untitled1, ink on paper, 2008
untitled2, ink on paper, 2008

Come together @ Artstation

Mumu te awha Couch

Te Puawaitanga Art Auction

Newton Central Primary school Art auction,

March 16th 2008

Cerisse Palalagi
Natalie Couch
Matene Sisnet
Hera Johns
Ani Oneil
Bethany Edmunds
Steven Ball
Filipe Tohi
Greg Riwai
Tracey Black
Shigeyuki Kihara
Robyn Kahukiwa
Dominique Baker
& more...

Print portfolio in NYC

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, I Will Not Be Silent, 2006
ImagOn print, 13 ½ by 9 ½ inches

Richard F. Brush Art Gallery
St. Lawrence University
Canton, New York

January 21 – February 28, 2008

"The Hello Kitty portfolio is framed and being installed in the Richard
F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York" Melanie Yazzie


This exchange portfolio of prints uses Pocahontas and Hello Kitty as a ploy to engage the public to consider new ways of looking at Native women in history; the plot is to educate viewers and especially young women about this issue; and the point is to exhibit the prints at various reservations and in communities throughout the United States and abroad.

The project, organized by Melanie Yazzie, includes 38 artists and was also supported by the Southern Graphics Council and the University of Kansas, SGC sponsor in 2007. Kathryn Polk designed the portfolio’s colophon, which was the source for this text. Special thanks to Melissa Schulenberg, assistant professor of fine arts at St. Lawrence University.

Four New Zealand artists involved with the portfolio are: Cerisse Palalagi (Niue/ Te Arawa), Natalie Couch(Tuwharetoa), Lorraine King (Ngapuhi) & Natalie Hunt.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a Flathead Salish artist, writes about her print at left, “American Indian tribes have suffered genocide the same as the Iraqi and Afghani tribes today.”