Founded in the early 1990’s, the Pacific Sisters is one of the longest established Tāngata Moana art collectives in Aotearoa. Emerging from the fringes of mainstream arts and culture the Pacific Sisters are now recognised locally and internationally for their multi-disciplinary practice and fashion activism. The Pacific Sisters apply Moana Nui - Pacific based heritage art and cultural practices while incorporating contemporary art forms, embracing their urban Māori, Pacific, and Queer identities, unique to Aotearoa NZ. The collective is an active part of the wider Moana Nui arts community, nurturing and mentoring younger artists as well as inspiring and supporting each other’s individual art practices.
The Pacific Sisters artworks are held in the collections of Te Papa Tongarewa - The Museum of New Zealand, Toi o Tāmaki - Auckland City Art Gallery and Tāmaki Paenga Hira - the Auckland War Memorial Museum. They are currently developing new works for the AsiaTopa Festival in Melbourne in 2025 and will be exhibiting later in the year at Australia's National Museum of Screen Culture for the up and coming exhibition Futures.
Career Highlights:
2024: Aitutu, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, Sydney, Australia.
Pacific Sisters in Da Fale, Samoa House, Auckland, New Zealand.
2021 - 23:Te Pū o te Wheke, Hawai’i Triennial - Bishop Museum, Hawai’i; Scape Public Art Festival - Christchurch, New Zealand; Empowerment - Kunstmuseum, Wolfburg, Germany.
2018 -19: Pacific Sisters He Toa Tāera Fashion Activists, Toi o Tāmaki - Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; Te Papa Tongarewa -The Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.
2011: Eyekonik, Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland New Zealand.
2000: Lisa Reihana and the Pacific Sisters,12th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
1996: Aotearoa delegates, Pacific Arts Festival: Tala Measina, Apia, Samoa.
1995: Living Installations, Bottled Ocean, Toi o Tāmaki - Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland New Zealand.
