Ep. 44: Returning Home and Indigenous Art with Moana Palelei Iose

This episode features Moana Iose who is an artist and Indigenous
art policy consultant, as well as the founder of Salt Lake City’s
Pasifika First Fridays and the Lost Eden Gallery. We begin with a
look back to our global crossing of paths and our shared
connections at Auckland Uni. Moana was involved in the ‘I too am
Auckland’ project while she studied at Waipapa Taumata Rau
(formerly Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, a.k.a. University
of Auckland), where she drew inspiration from Black student
organising at Harvard to help catalyse discussions of race for
Māori and Pacific students in New Zealand’s universities. We
reflect on being from, living outside of, and then returning to
Salt Lake City, and the complicated love we have for this place
and the simultaneous frustration we have with this society. Moana
shares her views and work with Indigenous art and responding to
community and place, while challenging the dominant narratives
that have been imposed on folks of colour. She also shares some
of the story behind the fiercely local and yet internationally
reaching Lost Eden gallery and the young Indigenous artists who
are currently based there. We conclude with reflections on being
critically conscious in our current moment, developing a sense of
stewardship and connection to where we live, and valuing the
significance of art in our world.