Lalaga

Lalaga

Samantha Atasani, Ahilapalapa Rands, Paula Schaafhausen, Mele Mafile‘o o Uhumaka, and Vaimaila Urale together comprise The Li’l Mama’s Art Klub (LMAK). The collective formed in 2007 after assisting artist Ani O’Neill on an installation at Te Papa Tongarewa. At the time, LMAK’s members attended four different Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland art schools. Feeling isolated as Moana students within their respective institutions, the collective emerged as an alternative cohort that supported connections with Moana knowledges and material culture. Ani O’Neill bestowed the name ‘Li’l Mama’s Art Klub’ on the group, signifying a younger generation of artists following in the footsteps of Moana women’s collectives, affectionately known as the Mamas, who nurture Moana arts through communal making.

LMAK’s artistic approach is likewise rooted in collaboration. Lalaga features five circular forms made from coiled mekameka, a four-strand braid typically made from harakeke and found in tipare (headbands). LMAK learned the technique from the Mamas in West Auckland and how to apply it to plastic ribbons from Ani O’Neill.

Combining customary techniques with contemporary materials has long been an essential strategy in sustaining Moana art in new contexts and across generations. Each Lalaga coil uses multiple strands of ribbon, at times enabling the introduction of different colours. In weaving strands together, these coils symbolise the intergenerational sharing, collaborative making, continuation and adaptation that sustains Moana art forms and underpin LMAK’s ethos as a collective.

Lalaga was exhibited in Come Together (2008) at Artstation, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and in Dateline Returns (2008) at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.

–– Ioana Gordon-Smith, 2023