About the Exhibition

Vānimonimo is a collection of sculptural and painted works that explore the Sāmoan concept of Vā, the sacred relational space that binds people, land, ocean, and ancestry. Stretching across vast waters, this space is not empty, but alive with memory, movement, and meaning. For Tangata Pasefika, the ocean is not a void; it is a connective tissue, a vast blue pathway through which histories flow and futures are imagined.

At the heart of this exhibition is a series of timber sculptures, each crafted carefully with motifs and intentions that echo the visual language of Sāmoan tatau, ancestral stories, and shared cultural memory. These works stand as markers of time and place, carrying the textures of tradition, the weight of history, and the rhythm of inheritance.

Among the most significant works in the exhibition are the Sāpātē drums, contemporary reinterpretations of the traditional pātē, or slit drum. These instruments are carved with topographical maps of Savai‘i and Upolu, grounding sound and sculpture in the geography of home. The name Sāpātē, translating to “the sacred strike” is both a tribute and a play on the artist’s given name, Sapati. These drums are not only sonic sculptures; they are vessels of remembrance, honouring the artist’s father Avei, who taught him to drum at the age of five. A musician himself, his father played in a family reggae band, passing down rhythm as both legacy and language.

Another key collection within the exhibition is a series of timber gogo birds, inspired by the stylised frigate bird motif found throughout Pacific art and tatau. Revered across Oceania as divine messengers and vital navigational guides, these birds have long signalled safe passage to those voyaging across the Moana. Their presence in this body of work honours both spiritual and physical journeys, and the courage to navigate by trust and tradition.

Vānimonimo is a conversation between past and present, between islands and oceans, between time and space. It is a call across the Vā, echoing, resonant, and deeply rooted.

Siah Finai: Vānimonimo is presented with support from Craigs Investment Partners.

About the Artist

Siah Finai is a multidisciplinary creative living and working in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, with ancestral roots in the Sāmoan villages of Fasito‘outa and Nofoali‘i on the island of Upolu. Raised in the heart of West Auckland, his world was shaped early by rhythm, craft, and the quiet strength of community. This foundation continues to echo through his evolving creative practice.

Finai’s work is deeply rooted in the textures and stories of Sāmoan culture, drawing from its symbols, materials, and traditions, then reshaping them through contemporary methods. Whether working with wood, sculpture, drawing, digital tools, or the crafting of musical instruments, his hands search for that space where memory meets invention.

At the core of his practice is a deep respect for process, a commitment to experimenting with materials and allowing them to speak in new dialects of an old language. In doing so, Finai doesn’t just preserve cultural memory. He reframes it, asking how it might live, shift, and respond in the now.

His work is an open dialogue, a weaving of past and present that invites us to consider what it means to inherit, to transform, and to belong.