Welcome to 2018. Our first event for the year: ATTACK THE BLOCK, a series of free talks, workshops and cheat codes with arts collective FAFSWAG.

Decentralising power doesn’t always require a revolution. Sometimes collective prosperity is accomplished through simple gestures of kindness. As part of a new wave of contemporary Indigenous artists no longer interested in the notion of singular success, we’re keen to unpack the guarded isolation of our old creative industries. Collaboration is a reality of modern living and we’re fine with sharing our shit.

Over the last five years, FAFSWAG Arts Collective have amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience within the creative arts. Some of the most valuable lessons are things you can’t learn at art school, or working within an institution. This project seeks to create a platform for queer and Indigenous artists to share and address some of the harsh industry pitfalls that people just don’t talk about. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re happy to share with our community what we do have.

Attack the Block is a pre-emptive strike against intergenerational gatekeeping and industry cockblocking. Join members of the FAFSWAG Arts Collective as we offload a few cheat codes for collective mistake making, side-stepping ya haters and ghostwriting funding apps. lol. This event is a toolkit for any artist seeking to broadcast across the digital divide, manouvre their identity through institutional space, refine your scammer coloniser lingo and collect your coins along the way.

ATTACK THE BLOCK

Saturday 14 April • 10am - 5pm
Free (limited spaces available)
Q Theatre

Jermaine Dean | Pati Solomona Tyrell | Ilalio Loau | Falencie Filipo
Moe Laga | Elyssia Wilson-Heti | Tim Swann | Nahora Ioane
Akashi Fisi’inaua | Tanu Gago | Ema Tavola

Registrations open Thursday 5th April

REGISTER HERE

Presented in collaboration with Q Theatre
Supported by Auckland Council

THE PROGRAMME

Panel 1: Representation and Agency in Collective Practice

Pati Solomona Tyrell, Falencie Filipo, Jermaine Dean, Moe Laga, Akashi Fisi’inaua, Elyssia Wilson-Heti, Tanu Gago
Chaired by Ema Tavola

The glossy veneer of FAFSWAG's branding is fully informed by a community development kaupapa, often made invisible by the commercial standards of our work. It’s important to us to disavow any assumptions that happen as a result of this, and to unpack these ideas in the real world.

This panel addresses the politics of representation within and outside of the collective. What does agency look like for artists sharing resources, opportunities and space? What kinds of distortion filters develop outside of the artist's control? What is the kaupapa of our brand, and how is this articulated to our audience through the various mediums and genres we occupy?

This conversation is about demystifying the FAFSWAG practice and offering practical insights that offer audiences some clarity about our guiding values and principles as they relate to collective practice.

Panel 2: The Role of Community in Collective Practice

Pati Solomona Tyrell, Falencie Filipo, Akashi Fisi’inaua, Ilalio Loau, Tim Swann, Nahora Ioane, Tanu Gago
Chaired by Ema Tavola

In recent years, FAFSWAG events have been predominantly framed around a discourse about ‘safe space’. In acknowledging the existence of safe space, there is a dual acknowledgement of unsafe space. As Queer artists of colour, the prevalence of this reality and its subsequent impact on the way people are allowed to occupy space has meant that the role of community engagement within the arts carries with it responsibilities outside of simply presenting an audience with work.

But who really operates in this way outside of those who know first-hand what it’s like to find yourself in an unsafe space? How are we building the resilience of our communities to command and demand space that holds at its core the ideological values held and practiced within our own homes, cultural spaces and social groups? What is the role of community in collective practice and what does this look like in real-world terms?

Future Pathways: Business solutions for creative practitioners
Tim Swann, Ilalio Loau, and Tanu Gago

Tim Swann is a business strategist with extensive experience in the areas of finance and risk management. While his ‘artistic practice’ is more hobby than career Tim is thoroughly invested in the complex conversations that occur daily when you live in the intersections. Tim is committed to economic domination based on merit and equality and advocacy that elevates rainbow Pacific people into positions of power.

Ilalio Loau has been a member of FAFSWAG for the past six years and is an aspiring fashion designer, studying at Whitecliffe. Although his artistic practice has been for fun, his understanding of body type and fashion gives him a chance to help those around him gain confidence in their everyday life. Ilalio has taken fashion design as a practice to help fill in the gaps in queer Pacifica. His focus is to create a fashion brand for transgender women.

Tanu Gago is an interdisciplinary artist and award-winning photographer of Samoan heritage. Born in Samoa and raised in Mangere. Gago works predominantly in new media with a portfolio of work that includes, staged portraiture, moving image and film. His practice is collaborative and examines cultural framing, decolonisation, social politics, queer activism and gender and sexually-diverse narratives.

Body Works: Body practice and agency within the performing arts
Akashi Fisi’inaua and Elyssia Wilson-Heti

Akashi Fisiinaua is an interdisciplinary artist and a member of the arts collective FAFSWAG (winners of Best Body of Work at the Auckland Theatre Awards 2017). Also known for her work within the Auckland Vogue ballroom scene as the chanter MC Queen Kapussi fka (formerly known as) Boyinadress, she made her directorial and choreographic debut last year with the sold-out Basement show FEMSLICK. Her video series in collaboration with Jermaine Dean, B14CK 2H4K71, has been showcased at CoCA Christchurch and Blakdot Gallery Melbourne. With FAFSWAG, she collaborated with Auckland City Council for Make Space: The Visibility Project, an Indigenous queer/trans live projection within the CBD for Pride 2017. Akashi's work is an immersive digital and IRL exploration on the politics of space in relationship to her body. It's about taking control, body sovereignty and self-defense. She explores empowerment through vogue and martial arts practices in conversation with her Tongan culture, but still rooted within her context of being a first generation immigrant from Tonga flexing in western world.

Elyssia Wilson-Heti is an interdisciplinary artist, activist and member of FAFSWAG. She is of mixed Niuean and European heritage. She has spent the last few years of her practice producing and facilitating events with FAFSWAG and the wider creative community. Her practice is collaborative and is intersectional at the core.

Trans-Advocacy: Queer practice in the arts and trans-advocacy
Moe Laga, Nahora Ioane and Falencie Filipo

Moe Laga-Fa’aofo is a performance artist from South Auckland whose practice includes movement and activation. Her works include a number of stage and screen productions, as well as collaborative visual artworks that have been shown in Australia as well as the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China. Moe has a diploma from the Pacific institute of Performing Arts and recently completed her Bachelors in Creative Arts from the Manukau Institute of Technology.

Talking Heads: A photography workshop
Pati Solomona Tyrell and Jermaine Dean

Pati Solomona Tyrell is an interdisciplinary visual artist with a strong focus on performance. Originally from Kirikiriroa, Waikato and now based in Maungarei, Tāmaki Makaurau, Pati uses lens-based media to create visual material centered around ideas of urban Pacific queer identity. He has shown work at Fresh Gallery Otara, PAH Homestead, Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia, and most recently at the Pingyao International Photography Festival. Pati is a co-founder of the arts collective FAFSWAG and a graduate of the Bachelor of Creative Arts at the Manukau Institute of Technology, Otara.

Jermaine Dean is a contemporary digital media artist whose concepts consist around the idea of his communities, both the LGBTQI and the creative. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Dean works with photography, video, music and performance. Dean has been part of FAFSWAG since 2013, and has been developing his practice of pixelation, distortion and manipulation throughout different mediums.

ATTACK THE BLOCK

Saturday 14 April • 10am - 5pm
Free (limited spaces available)
Q Theatre

Registrations open Thursday 5th April

REGISTER HERE

Presented in collaboration with Q Theatre
Supported by Auckland Council