The powerful and dynamic legacy of Pacific arts in Aotearoa, as told by the artists themselves.

Pacific Arts Aotearoa tells the dynamic and powerful story of Pacific arts in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This comprehensive account spans six decades of multidisciplinary Pacific creative genius, remembering the diverse, fresh and energetic contributions of Pacific artists to New Zealand, Oceania and the world.

Edited by leading Pacific writer and scholar Lana Lopesi, this book includes over 300 images and contributions from more than 120 artists, curators and community voices, providing new and previously unheard perspectives on this vast and growing legacy, in one volume.

Published in association with Pacific Arts, Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa as part of the Pacific Arts Legacy Project, an initiative under the Pacific Arts Strategy.

• Published: 24 October 2023
• ISBN: 9781776950515
• Imprint: Penguin
• Format: Hardback
• Pages: 544

About the Author

Dr Lana Lopesi (MNZM) is an Assistant Professor in the department of Indigenous Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon. There she teaches across her research areas of Pacific Islander studies, Indigenous feminisms and contemporary art. She is the author of False Divides (2018: BWB) and Bloody Woman (2021: BWB), which was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Lana is co-editor of Towards a Grammar of Race: In Aotearoa New Zealand (2022: BWB) and Pacific Spaces: Translations and Transmutations (2022: Berghahn Books). Lana was Editor-in-Chief for the Creative New Zealand Pacific Art Legacy Project, a digital-first Pacific art history told from the perspective of the artists. Lana is also co-editor of the Marinade: Aotearoa Journal of Moana Art. Previously Lana was Arts Editor Metro Magazine (2020) and at The Pantograph Punch she was Editor-in-Chief (2017–2019) and Interim Director (2021), and now is a Pantograph Punch board member. Before that, she was Founding Editor of #500words (2012–2017) and Editor of Design Assembly (2018). Lana received her PhD in 2021 from the Auckland University of Technology, with a thesis titled Moana Cosmopolitan Imaginaries: Toward an Emerging Theory of Moana Art. Previously Lana was part of a global Indigenous Curatorium who first formed to curate the exhibition The Commute at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2018) with subsequent projects including Layover at Artspace Auckland (2019) followed by Transits and Returns at Vancouver Art Gallery (2019). Lana was honoured in the 2023 New Year’s Honours, becoming a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts.