Enjoy is thrilled to announce Sophia Coghini as our Tautai Arts Intern for 2021. 

Sophia joins us from Canons Creek, Porirua, having recently studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts at CoCA Massey University in central Pōneke. 

During her five-month, full-time internship with us, she will develop a variety of skillsets through completing her own curatorial project, supporting our artistic programme, and staging fundraising and community-based events during the rest of the year. 

Sophia is an interdisciplinary Pasifika artist, of Niuean (Alofi, Hikutavake) Tahitian, Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi), Italian and Hungarian descent. Her own art practice explores tivaevae (tifaifai), an inherited tactile skill set, passed down from her grandmother and mother, but within the less ‘traditional’ mediums of concrete, cork, and plaster. The concrete curves and crevices challenge the expected notions of tivaevae (tifaifai), reflecting the institutional space this work struggles to belong within, by materialising a rigid form of time and place. Sophia is interested in how viewing tivaevae in a different form and context can open up conversations around growing customs while continuing to provide the narratives that tivaevae does.

Moui fiafia ne nakai fai fakaotiaga mo e magafaoa mo e tau kapitiga- Salamo 37:11,29

Enjoy is pleased to be a host organisation for the Tautai Pacific Arts Trust Internship programme for 2021, supported by Creative New Zealand. 
This paid opportunity offers emerging Moana arts practitioners hands-on experience in arts organisations, alongside mentorship and professional support to develop career pathways in the arts.