Aotearoa: Land of the wrong white crowd, Suzanne Tamaki. Photographed by Greg Semu
Artists
 

Suzanne Tamaki (Maniapoto, Tuhoe, Te Arawa) is an Otaki-based fibre artist with the label Native Sista. She creates body adornment, costumes and jewellery inspired by legends and mythical creatures in the Pacific, as well as traditional indigenous costuming throughout the world.

Suzanne was a founding member of the Pacific Sisters fashion collective in the mid 1990s, and participated in various multimedia fashion shows including the 12th Sydney Biennale and the 1996 South Pacific Festival of the Arts in Samoa. She often works as a guest tutor at various institutions and also produces multi-media fashion events independently promoting Maori and Pacific fashion, music, movement and image.

Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand and the Pacific at venues including Objectspace in Auckland, City Gallery Wellington, Pataka Museum of Arts and History, the Dowse, Te Papa Tongarewa the Museum of New Zealand and Belau Museum during the 2004 South Pacific Arts Festival. She is a registered user of the Toi Iho Maori Made mark.

Click here to listen to an audio interview with the artist by Sarah Robins
(January 2006) [6.5 Mb]
Select Exhibitions and Performances
2005 Blanket Stitch, Objectspace, Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ
2004 Ka Kino To Pounama He Pounama Onamata, 9th South Pacific festival of the Arts, Belau Museum, Belau
2004 My Favourite Things – Pataka Museum of Arts and History, Porirua, NZ
2003 Precious – City Gallery Wellington, NZ
2002 Surprise - Wellington City Art Gallery, NZ
2002 Jewelled - Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, NZ
2002 Fibre & Fairylights - Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt, NZ
2002 D’tail – Mataora Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2002 Magdalena Pasifika, Womens International Festival, Columbia, South America
2001 Fashion Now – Eyelights Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand, Wellington
2003 Reclaimed - Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt
2000 Fashion design and performance at Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia
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