GAME OVER

'Game Over' Monomono Pani -Wall Hanging.

I had stepped away from my creative flow for quite some time.

For a while I felt I wasn’t quite there, and I wasn’t forcing it either.

Life, work, money, responsibilities, a pinch of rejection within the creative industry, and perhaps a little “divine timing” all played their part.

After applying for funding, residencies, exhibitions and other opportunities, I reached a point where I realised I could keep at it and wait for the right door to open, or I could simply return to making on my own terms.

So that is what I did.

Game Over is one of my first Monomono Pani creations and part of the development of this new body of work.

Monomono Pani is a style of puffed quilting adopted and well known within the Tongan community. It is recognised as a form of koloa - something treasured and valued.

I have always been drawn to this form of making. I was raised around the traditions of celebration, funerals, family gatherings and the gifting of koloa from one generation to another.

With Game Over, I began exploring how Monomono Pani could move beyond the forms I had grown up seeing and become something wearable, contemporary and distinctly my own.

This piece marks my creative return - proudly, unapologetically, and on my own terms.

'Straight from the horses mouth' 2023 Glen Innes Auckland New Zealand