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Elliot Explores Mana in Na Tabua Exhibition

Losalini Dulakiverata

12 October 2006

Na Tabua: An investigation of mana from a Fijian perspective

Susan Elliot's exhibition, Na Tabua: An investigation of mana from a Fijian perspective, opened on Friday 6 October, to coincide with Fiji Day on 10 October.

Susan Elliot, of Tailevu vasu i Rewa, received funding from Creative New Zealand in 2004 for research into how an object comes to be filled with mana.

Back in Fiji, Susan found the promise of magical power in the whale's tooth a challenging topic for analysis. "When a thing (tabua) is understood as the most valued object in traditional Fijian culture, to try and analyse and research how and why it is highly valued, presents problems," she says. "To many Fijian people it just is, and that is that."

The exhibition includes framed prints in the form of etchings and woodcuts and large unframed canvases that will hang loosely on the gallery walls.
Wellington City Council's Culture and Arts Portfolio Leader, Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer, says the exhibition will be an outstanding artistic representation of Ms Elliot's research.

"Interpretive research into objects of such high symbolic regard is a complex task," he says. "I look forward to seeing how Susan has conveyed her findings on mana in her art practice."

Na Tabua opened on Friday 6 October at 5.30pm and runs until
20 October at the Toi Pôneke Gallery, Wellington Arts Centre, 61 Abel Smith Street.

>> Toi Poneke, Wellington Arts Centre

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