Kalisolaite 'Uhila Explained

Birth Place:Tonga
Education:Auckland University of Technology
Style:Performance art
Website:https://michaellett.com/artist/kalisolaite-uhila/
Notable Works:Mo’ui tukuhausia (2014), Ongo Mei Moana (2015), Mother Man (2022), Kelekele Mo‘ui (Living Soil) (2024)
Awards:Harriet Friedlander Residency (2021)

Kalisolaite ‘Uhila is a Tongan-born New Zealand award-winning performance artist.

Biography

Kalisolaite ‘Uhila was born in Tonga in 1981, and is based in Auckland.[1] [2] [3] [4] 'Uhila began as a print maker, completing his Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2010.[5] He then moved into being a performance artist and completed a Master of Performance and Media Arts in 2016, for which his thesis was entitled: Maumau-taimi: Wasting Time; Being Useless.[6]

'Uhila's performances have been wide ranging, including "living in a shipping container with a pig for a week,... performing on the roof of a gallery to bemused spectators in adjacent high-rise buildings and the street below, and 'cooking' himself in an umu."[7]

His most famous work, Mo'ui tukuhausia, involved him sleeping rough at Te Tuhi Gallery (2012) and Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery (2014), for which he was a finalist for the Walters Prize in 2014.[8] [9]

In 2015, Ongo Mei Moana saw 'Uhila spend six-hours a day conducting the tide of Oriental Bay, Wellington.[10] [11] In 2019, he performed at the Second Honolulu Biennial.[12]

In 2020, 'Uhila was featured in Robert George's movie I Am the Moment, which competed in the Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival.[13] [14] The film featured 'Uhila's work in Tokyo while in residency at Youkobo Art Space in 2018.

In 2022, he performed Mother Man with his nephew, at the Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery, which reinterpreted "Tongan gender roles enacted in ritual and ceremonial events which govern interactions."[15] [16] From 2023-2024, he also worked in New York City and Heretaunga Hastings.[17] In 2024, 'Uhila performed Kelekele Mo‘ui (Living Soil) at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery.[18]

Awards and residencies

He has been the recipient of a number of awards and residencies including:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Arts Foundation . en-US.
  2. Web site: 2014-10-17 . The invisible man . 2024-10-31 . . en-NZ.
  3. Web site: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
  4. Web site: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Michael Lett . en.
  5. Web site: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Auckland University of Technology . en.
  6. 'Uhila . Kalisolaite . Maumau-taimi: Wasting Time; Being Useless . 2016 . Auckland University of Technology . en.
  7. Nepia . Moana . 2019 . About the Artist: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . The Contemporary Pacific . en . 31 . 1 . v-xii . 10.1353/cp.2019.0003 .
  8. Book: Willis, Emma . The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Politics . 2019-03-14 . Routledge . 978-1-351-39911-1 . Eckersall . Peter . en . ‘IT’S JUST NOT RIGHT’ Performing homelessness in Kalisolaite ‘Uhila’s Mo’ui Tukuhausia . Grehan . Helena.
  9. Web site: Tonga . Nina . August 2014 . Roaming all over . 2024-10-31 . OFF THE WALL ISSUE #6.
  10. Gabbard . Caroline Sinavaiana . 2019 . Archipelagic Poetics in the Art of Kalisolaite 'Uhila and Yuki Kihara . Journal of Transnational American Studies . en . 10 . 1 . 10.5070/T8101044166. free .
  11. Hobart . Hi'ilei Julia . 2019 . when we dance the ocean, does it hear us? . Journal of Transnational American Studies . 10 . 1. 10.5070/T8101044007 .
  12. Web site: 2018-12-08 . Kalisolaite 'Uhila - Performance artist heads to Honolulu Biennial . 2024-10-31 . . en-nz.
  13. Web site: 2020-07-15 . Pasifika film-makers looking to shine at Whānau Mārama . 2024-10-31 . The Fiji Times . en-US.
  14. I Am The Moment . en . 2024-10-31 . ondemand.nzfilm.co.nz.
  15. Web site: 2022-07-30 . Kalisolaite 'Uhila - Mother Man . 2024-10-31 . Auckland Art Gallery . en.
  16. Web site: Thompson . Tulia . 2022-05-06 . Don't miss Auckland Art Gallery's breathtaking Pacific feminist exhibition . 2024-10-31 . . en.
  17. Web site: Kelekele Mo'ui (Living Soil): Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery.
  18. Web site: Davis . Sophie . 2024-10-29 . Hastings Art Gallery column: The story behind the soil inside the gallery . 2024-10-31 . . en-NZ.
  19. News: Chadwick . Sanele . 26 October 2017 . The man who lived with pigs and cooked himself in an oven . 2024-10-31 . . en.
  20. Web site: Kalisolaite 'Uhila . 2024-10-31 . Dunedin Public Art Gallery . en-US.

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