Vasemaca (FKA Ema) Tavola is a Fijian-Pākehā artist and writer currently living in South Auckland. Having established her painting practice in Suva, Fiji at Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific, Tavola went on to study sculpture at Manukau School of Visual Arts. 

Working with textiles since 2001, Tavola has aligned her art practice and politics with women’s rights, feminisms, and histories of BIPOC art and activism in the Global South. In her textile assemblages, she utilises patchwork and appliqué techniques to honour a family practice of quilt making, bonding generations together, across oceans. Textiles are easily packed, transported, functional and durable; growing up in Fiji, England and Belgium, and later Aotearoa New Zealand, textiles also speak to Tavola’s lived experience of impermanence and distance, always living with a sense of home being somewhere else. Throughout her life, hand-made blankets and collected and treasured textiles, trims and embellishments have been tactile archives, holding memories, connection, and an intimate sense of safety, and home.

Throughout Tavola’s practice – in curatorial work and her art making – she has been unapologetic about confronting the ideas and economics of taste. Whether purposefully elevating low-value materials, or low-brow aesthetics and design, to symbolically situating art in places that draw into question the cultural norms and socio-political baggage of Western art and arts appreciation, Tavola prompts quiet reflection on how taste is cultivated, and who has the power to do it.

Born in Suva, Fiji with paternal bonds to Dravuni, Kadavu, and maternal connections to Aotearoa New Zealand, Tavola started putting down roots in South Auckland aged 19.

After 41 years of being known as Ema, in late 2023, Tavola reverted to her Fijian name, Vasemaca.

Connect and subscribe via Patreon here.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 – To Live + Die in South Auckland, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, South Auckland

2023 – Backbone, Vunilagi Vou, South Auckland

2017 – Dark Meat, Tautai, Auckland

2009 – Blood+Bone, St Kevins Arcade, Auckland

AWARDS

2017 – Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies Artist Residency, University of Canterbury, Christchurch

2015 – Summer Residency, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Wellington

2014 – School of Art and Design Postgraduate Research Award, AUT University

2013 – Bachelor of Visual Arts Alumni Award, University of Auckland

2012 – Contemporary Pacific Artist, Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 – Volume: Bodies of Knowlege by Community Reading Room curated by Dr Torika Bolatagici, Counihan Gallery, Naarm / Melbourne, Australia

2022 – Moonwalkerz curated by Nigel Borell, Taste of Pasifika Festival, Auckland

2022 – Volume: Bodies of Knowlege by Community Reading Room curated by Dr Torika Bolatagici, Metro Arts, Meanjin / Brisbane, Australia

2021 – Hidden in Plain Sight. From Being Rendered Invisible to Becoming Visible curated by Julia Albrecht and Stephanie Endter, Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

2021 – Pussy Fat, Vunilagi Vou, South Auckland

---

During this gap in making and showing work, I wrote a manifesto (2017, above), made an exhibition for the 4th International Biennial of Casablanca in Morocco (2018), staged an exhibition at Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies in Fiji (2018), presented a keynote for the AAANZ conference in Australia (2018), spoke at the Para Site International Conference (2019) in Hong Kong, and opened Vunilagi Vou, an independent gallery in South Auckland.

---

2017 – The Perpetual Flux of Transitional Otherness, Olly, Auckland

2016 – Postcards from Papatoetoe : A Pop-up and pocket exhibition curated by Francis McWhannell, Old Papatoetoe, South Auckland

2011 – diasporadic679, Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland

2010 – FRESH10, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, South Auckland

2010 – 30 Ukulele, Village Arts, Hokianga

2009 – Flower Power, Centro Ricerca Arte Attuale (CRAA), Italy

2009 – Pan Pacific Nation curated by Jaimey Hamilton, The Arts at Marks Garage, Hawaii

2008 – VASU: Pacific Women of Power, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

2008 – Represent, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, South Auckland

2008 – Flat White Black Pearl curated by Jim Vivieaere, Te Karanga Gallery, Auckland

2007 – Longitude curated by Giles Peterson, The Art Studio, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

2007 – BUY SPEND SAVE NOW, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, South Auckland

2006 – What’s Going On, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, South Auckland

2006 – This is not a love song curated by Eimi Tamua, Artstation, Auckland

2005 – Destinations… curated by Lonnie Hutchinson, Pitt Street Methodist Church, Auckland

2004 – Five by Three, ArtNet Gallery, South Auckland

2004 – Niu Dialogue curated by Jim Vivieaere, Aotea Centre, Auckland

2001 – ANZ National Art Awards, The Playhouse, Suva, Fiji

2001 – Expressions on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality & Empowerment, AIDS Taskforce, Suva, Fiji

2001 – Red Wave Collective, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

EDUCATION

Currently – Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

2013 – Master of Arts Management, AUT University

2006 – Bachelor of Visual Arts, University of Auckland