Sione Tuívailala Monū (born 1993

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

) is an Australian and New Zealand interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent notable for their use of

bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...

s and flowers.

Biography

Monū grew up around Australia, as their father's job was in the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

. Their mother is an avid collector of Tongan crafts, adornments and ngatu (bark cloth). As a child, Monū enjoyed experimenting with materials, "Flowers as a material and symbol have always been something I’ve responded to since I was a child." Monū was not taught how to make Tongan crafts in a traditional way, so they developed their own interpretations with materials they had at hand. Monū lives between Canberra, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, and works across the different mediums of photography, moving-image, fashion and adornment, performance and drawing exploring identity, family and Pacific peoples' queer experience in the diaspora. Monū has shown their work in many art galleries throughout New Zealand and Australia, including

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia. History 1896–1959: Schools The building at 53 James Street, Northbridge, which ...

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 ...

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

, Māngere Art Centre, and Bergman Gallery

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2023 – ''The Way We Were'', Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand * 2023 – ''Stories,'' City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand * 2022 – ''Matariki Fetu’u,'' Kaukau, Wellington, New Zealand * 2022 – ''Volver'', Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand * 2022 – ''Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle'' (with Manu Vaeatangitau),

, Auckland, New Zealand * 2021 – ''’Ao Kakala Ōtautahi,'' SCAPE Public Art Season 2021, Christchurch, New Zealand * 2021 – ''Leitī,''

, Perth, Australia * 2020 – ''Kahoa Kakala'', Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand * 2017 – ''Kahoa Kakala'', Fresh Gallery Ōtara, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions

* 2023 – ''Tukufakaholo - Tongan Contemporary''. Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand * 2023 – ''Queer Encounters'', Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia * 2023 – ''Pride and Prejudice… Part1'', Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand * 2023 – ''Oasis/respite'', Studio One Toi Tū, Auckland, New Zealand * 2022 – ''Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda'', Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand * 2022 – ''Twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects'', Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand * 2022 ''– Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle'', Māngere Art Centre, Auckland, New Zealand * 2020 ''–'' ''Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania 2020,''

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand * 2016 ''–'' Social Matter, Blue Oyster,

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monu, Sione 1993 births Living people 21st-century Australian artists 21st-century New Zealand artists Artists from Auckland People from Canberra Tongan artists