A mixture of 25 established and emerging artists will be part of a five-day art exhibition next month.

Manager of the event, Peter Sipeli said the exhibition was the first foray into the future of hosting without their mentor, French artist the late Jaabi Faarai.

Mr Sipeli said the exhibition titled “Nai Tukuni” poses a question for artists to think of their journey, their knowledge, their stories of their creativity pathways and pour that experiences and knowledge in to their work.

“The main focus is to create exhibitions spaces on and off the island, build partners with agencies and other stakeholders for support in our work and also seek new spaces for exhibitions in Suva and other places,” said Mr Sipeli.

Founder, Colin Philp (Manager on Leleuvia Island Resort) is the person and brains behind the brand and in bringing together the local artists.

“We are very happy to bring on board new artists to the collective and we also need to grow our women artist numbers,” he said.

Emerging Suva-based artist Fa’amoana Tilley, 24, is just excited to learn new things and to be part of her first exhibition next month.

Mr Sipeli said the main aim of the event was to re-launch the brand and present their annual plan of exhibitions.

The event is supported by Leleuvia Island Resort and will be held from April 8-12 at the resort.

Each artist has been tasked with three pieces of art.

BACKGROUND:

 Waisiliva Gallery is an artistic collection and has 14 established artist since 2012

 The collections were inspired by the late Jaabi Faarai, a French artist from Tahiti with African heritage.

 The gallery is committed to raising the profiles of the artists and to ensure that they create activities and exhibitions for the livelihoods of their artists and their families.

Edited by Rusiate Mataika

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