| Ema Tavola | |
| Birth Date: | 1982 |
| Nationality: | Fiji, New Zealand |
| Education: | Manukau School of Visual Arts |
| Occupation: | Artist & curator |
| Organization: | Founder of Fresh Gallery and Vunilagi Vou galleries in Auckland |
| Known For: | Advocacy of Pacific art and artists |
Ema Tavola (born 1982) is an artist, curator, arts manager and advocate using art to centralise 'Pacific ways of seeing'.[1] [2]
Tavola was born in Fiji. Her father is from Dravuni in the Kadavu province of Fiji.[3] [4] Her mother is a third generation Pākehā from Palmerston North in New Zealand. While she was growing up she also lived with her family in London and Belgium. As a teenager they moved to Wellington, New Zealand and she attended Wellington High School. After high school Tavola was having a gap year in Fiji and experienced the 2000 Fiji civilian coup.
Returning to New Zealand Tavola went on to study a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Manukau School of Visual Arts in South Auckland, and got a job with Manukau City Council after graduating.
In 2006 she founded the Fresh Gallery in Ōtara, Auckland as a partnership with Manukau City Council and the local community.[5] In 2013 it re-opened after expansion.[6]
Tavola has speaking engagements at conferences and other places. In 2019 she was a guest speaker at Para Site International Conference, Hong Kong, the Singapore Art Book Fair for NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore) and Spinning Triangles: Ignition of a School of Design for SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin, Germany / Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo).[7] [8] [9]
In 2019 Tavola opened an independent art gallery called Vunilagi Vou.[10]
Tavola's artworks are held the collections at Auckland Art Gallery.[11]
2017 – Pacific Studies Artist in Residence – University of Canterbury Macmillan Brown Centre