Pati Solomona Tyrell (born 11 August 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist from New Zealand who focuses on performance, videography and photography. Tyrell is a founding member of art collective

FAFSWAG FAFSWAG is an arts collective of Māori people, Māori and Pacific Islander, Pacific LGBT, LGBTQI+ artists and activists founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 2013. They explore and celebrate the unique identity of gender fluid Pacific people an ...

. In 2018 Tyrell became the youngest nominee for the

Walters Prize The Walters Prize is New Zealand's largest contemporary art prize. Held biennially since 2002, the prize aims to 'make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life'. The prize is named in honour of New Zealand ab ...

, New Zealand's most prestigious contemporary art award, for the video work ''Fāgogo,'' subsequently purchased by

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

. In 2020 Tyrell won the

Arts Pasifika Awards The Arts Pasifika Awards celebrate excellence in Pacific arts in New Zealand. The annual awards are administered by Creative New Zealand and are the only national awards for Pasifika artists across all artforms. The Arts Pasifika Awards includ ...

' Emerging Pacific Artist Award.

Biography

Tyrell was born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

of Samoan descent. His father is Apulu Solomona Tyrell from the village of

Faleasiu Faleasi'u is one of the largest village settlements on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is located on the northwestern coast of the island and has a population of 4177. Faleasi'u is part of A'ana Alofi 1 Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District' ...

, Samoa and his mother is Aoatea Tyrell from the village of

Fagali'i Fagali'i or Fagali'i-uta is a village on the island of Upolu in the Samoa archipelago approximately 5 kilometres south-east of Apia. It is in the electoral constituency of Vaimauga East (''faipule district'') which forms part of the larger politica ...

, Samoa. Tyrell attended Fairfield Primary School, Fairfield Intermediate and

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gir ...

, graduating in 2010. He relocated to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

to study a

Bachelor of Creative Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelo ...

programme at the

Manukau Institute of Technology Established in 1970, Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) ( mi, Te Whare Takiura o Manukau) is a large Category One institute of technology in Auckland, New Zealand. Category One is the highest possible educational rating as evaluated by the ...

, based in Otara, graduating in 2017. Tyrell is co-founder of the art collective FAFSWAG, and one of the principal photographers. FAFSWAG is the first brown queer arts collective who have been significant in New Zealand. It was established in 2013. FAFSWAG is formed of nine

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

artists: Jermaine Dean, Falencie Filipo, Tanu Gago, Tapuaki Helu, Elyssia Wilson Heti, Nahora Ioane, Moe Laga-Toleafoa, Tim Swann, Tyrell and James Waititi. They are known socially for Auckland's underground vogue ball scene and for collective interdisciplinary works based on transforming the visual representation of the Pacific

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

brown bodied chronology within Aotearoa, New Zealand. In 2018 Tyrell was nominated for the

for ''Fāgogo,'' a video work subsequently purchased by Auckland Art Gallery. Tyrell has a strong focus on performance and lens based mediums. He creates content that draws from personal experiences growing up in the Pacific brown bodied and queer diaspora within New Zealand in hopes to bring awareness for Pasifika queerness in New Zealand. Tyrell utilises lens-based media to create visually engaging artworks that explore ideas of urban Pacific queer identity through interdisciplinary visual art, in hope to give a voice and something for the younger queer Pasifika communities to visualise and see.

''Fāgogo''

''Fāgogo'' is the name of moving image film that was nominated for the 2020

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Walters prize The Walters Prize is New Zealand's largest contemporary art prize. Held biennially since 2002, the prize aims to 'make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life'. The prize is named in honour of New Zealand ab ...

. ''Fāgogo'' was made in 2016, and is 9.04 minutes duration with song by Hala Kuo Papa called ''Over Trodden Path.'' Poetry composed by Her Majesty Queen Salote Tupou III. Fāgogo refers to the Fa'a Samoa word for spoken fables in a shared context. In Samoa fāgogo was remembered as the story telling after a hard day work. Told by the older women and men there was an aspect of performance, spoken words and words that came with melodies. The receiver of a fāgogo displays the beauty of these fables then being passed down appropriating its meaning and making it their own. In the film, Tyrell's research, writing, choreography, fashion design and styling comes together by allowing artists to respond to their own cultural heritage and by co-producing this project, ''Fāgogo'' honours traditions by 'unpacking the colonial gaze placed on queer brown bodies' and returning gender and sexual diversity to the world. ''Fāgogo'' is positioned as a restorative art practice that Pati Solomona Tyrell shares with other artists.

Exhibitions

*2014: ''Masculine Me Tender''

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

*2016: March ''Talk That Talk'' Fresh Gallery Ōtara Artists: Mahia Jermaine Dean, Sione Monū, Sam Ioane Samau, Jonathan Selu, Darren Tainue and Pati Solomona Tyrell *2016: ''Fāgogo'' Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Artists: Pati Tyrell *2017: June–July ''Fāgogo'' St Paul St Gallery Three.

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...

*2017: July ''Lovers Rock'' PIMPI KNOWS.COM *2018: March–April ''Fāgogo''

Blue Oyster Art Project Space Blue Oyster Art Project Space, located in Dunedin’s city centre, is a space that presents contemporary experimental art projects. Blue Oyster included over 1,000 artists in more than 270 projects over its first 10 years and it continues to prov ...

*2018: August–January ''Fāgogo''

Exhibition Auckland Art Gallery

Awards

*2018: ''Fagogo''

Dunedin Fringe Festival The Dunedin Fringe Festival, or Dunedin Fringe, is an 11-day fringe arts festival held each March in Dunedin, New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main la ...

. Awards: Best in Fringe & Best visual or performance art *2018: Nominee for the Walters prize. *2020: Awarded the

'Emerging Pacific Artist Award' *2020: Awarded for interdisciplinary arts through the Arts Foundation Laureate As part of the queer Pasifika arts collective FAFSWAG, Tyrell received a 2020 Arts Foundation Laureate and exhibits his work at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia, Pingyao International Photography Festival, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrell, Pati Solomona 1992 births Living people People educated at Hamilton Boys' High School New Zealand people of Samoan descent New Zealand artists Indigenous artists