Sione Faletau
Tuaikaepau - Slowly but surely

Aotearoa New Zealand-based artist Sione Faletau delves into cultural systems and identity through a multidisciplinary practice spanning video, soundscapes, sculpture and installation. Anchored by Tongan and Moana cultural and ontological concepts, his works embody notions of time, space and affect. At the centre of his work is ongo—meaning both sound and feeling—a concept that encompasses the deep interconnectedness of Tongan cultural and spiritual life. Through digital explorations of sound and light, Faletau translates extracted audio data from songs and recordings into intricate compositions of kupesi, the symbolic patterns used to decorate ceremonial tapa cloth called ngatu. Faletau often explores fonua (land, people, womb) to reflect on the complexities of human relations and connections with the world—our internal and external architectures, environments, and the unseen forces that bind us.

Tuaikaepau – Slowly but surely features a video and soundscape installation which commemorates the courage and resilience of the survivors of the 1962 Tuaikaepau shipwreck that occurred on the Minerva reef between Tonga and Aotearoa New Zealand. Faletau offers a hypnotic visualisation that reflects on this historic moment, transforming a composition by Queen Sālote Tupou III from 1962 with music and dance created by Noble Ve‘ehala (Leilua) and Malukava (Tēvita Kavaefiafi).

Weaving ancestral knowledge and storytelling with contemporary digital techniques, Faletau bridges the past and present in a rich tapestry of Tonga’s artistic and customary legacies, emphasising the resistance, revitalisation and evolution of culture.