It is a stunning close-up image of a woman’s eye with a pearl in the corner.
"That was quite literally the seed of the idea — I love all the symbolics behind the formation of the pearl in the natural world . . . it’s like the pearl is this precious gem that is formed or birthed out of an irritant in the flesh of an oyster," Sydney-based New Zealand artist Angela Tiatia says.
For her it can mean the perseverance that is needed to get through life’s challenges and how pushing through those can form something beautiful and strong.
"Also to me it was like the visual representation of the idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s also a gem that’s quite beautiful but it sits within quite a vulnerable place on the body. It can represent the potential of pain or fear."
From there, her three-part moving image installation The Dark Current began to develop and started to become a reality when she received the 2022 Ian Potter Moving Image Commission, Australian’s most significant commissioning award for contemporary moving image art.
"It was really interesting because I had the very first image that formed the foundation of this work was that close-up of the eye with the pearl."
But before she could make that a reality she had to work out if it would be possible to do without hurting someone.
"I tested that idea and did selfies of myself because I would never dream of asking someone to go through an experience in front of the camera without myself experiencing that. Surprisingly you don’t really feel it."
That then led to a frustratingly long search for the perfect model to open the work. Tiatia, whose heritage is from New Zealand, Australia and Samoa, wanted a classically beautiful Samoan woman who could emulate the look of early colonial Samoan women and eventually found her in model Cassaerea Jesus.
"I wanted a very classic look that is more identifiable as Samoan, I wanted the audience to go right, she is Samoan."
"It’s quite a big undertaking. It is quite stressful."
But it is Tiatia’s happy place. For about 20 years Tiatia worked as a model and an actress but also had a passion for art so studied at the Auckland University of Technology.
Although comfortable in front of the camera, it was behind it that inspired her art. Back then, moving image art was a relatively new genre thought of as experimental.
"What I love about moving image is that it encompasses all of the disciplines of art. So to me it’s a moving image but also it’s sculptural because of the set building, you’ve got to think about colour theory and textures and then you’ve got sound and then you’ve got all the elements, all the mediums possible, available at your fingertips.
"So it’s almost like moving image is the perfect medium for the artist that doesn’t want to choose, like the greedy artist."
The Dark Current is a perfect example as it required a swimming pool to be built on set as well as a hydraulic lift that would lift and then slowly immerse Jesus, in a bright fuchsia pink, 1960s-style dress lying on pink carpet, into the water.
"The opening scene, that took the whole day of filming to get that right."
To get the shots she was after required a "robotic" camera attached to a manual crane.
"So it’s almost like the camera had to be choreographed alongside the choreography of the woman and timed specifically so that the camera had to be at a certain point before the platform dropped so that we get the sense of the water rushing in."
The idea was to break the installation into three parts — past, present and future. It pays homage to the strength and perseverance of Pacific Island women of the 1960s, an era when many migrated from the Pacific to New Zealand.
The present day is represented by learning and relearning histories such as the significance of the important sacred, Unesco World Heritage site Marae Taputapuatea, a large marae complex at Opoa in Taputapuatea, on the eastern coast of Raiatea in French Polynesia.
"I like to have a way to disseminate and teach the younger generation about our histories as well."
In this section of the installation the pink from the first part is interspersed by images of nature.
"I wanted a pink that was quite difficult to look at, almost garish. And it’s a pink that has a little bit of black in it. And so a pink that you can find in nature but also looks quite artificial. And so that strong pink, for me, has an association with feminine energy but is perhaps a little bit stronger or a little bit more masculine or darker or mysterious than the lighter pink. And that’s my own interpretation."
The third section, which took 18 months working with a multimedia artist, is situated in a hyper-real world, which has been created using 3-D gaming software. This landscape is dominated by futuristic colonial fountains, constructed out of the remains of extractive industries and labour practices that re-shaped the Pacific following colonisation and features performers reclaiming those places.
The complexity of creating these sorts of images is what drives Tiatia.
"That’s what I love about this work, it is the challenges of choreographing those long, uncut, moving shots that has become a signature style of my work and practice."
She has used many of the elements of Hollywood cinematography to make the installation compelling watching.
"So that alongside with the composition of the music it is all delicately balanced in a way to hold the audience member in this space as long as I can. Because moving image in the art world can still be quite challenging for audience members to get their head around."
Whereas at the beginning of her practice her works were a lot simpler, just her and her camera, and she could be more spontaneous as a result.
Directing all those moving parts feels empowering, she says, although she credits all the creatives involved in the project for enabling it to happen, many of whom she has worked with since 2017.
Tiatia decided to "break the fourth wall" and show some of the behind-the-scenes work in the filming of the installation so the audience could appreciate what goes into it.
"The audience sees the final part, they see the finished work, but they don’t get to see the entirety of the production and who’s involved and the feeling of what it’s like to be on set."
Having worked in front of the camera she knows how scary or intimidating it can be for some and likes to think she is able to coax performances out of people because of her own experience.
"And I try really hard on the sets of these works that everyone feels seen and feels just as empowered as they make me. So to return that feeling to them that they feel empowered and seen and in the space of being able to create fully without being constricted ...
"When I see this work finished, I’m also seeing the entirety of the production."
She completed the work in 2023 after an incredibly difficult time in her life when her mother died and she adopted her severely intellectually disabled twin sister.
"I almost gave up on, like, not creating this work at all. This opening piece is like, Cassaerea represents my mum. And so I guess it ties back to the pearl in the eye, you know, like the perseverance, persevering in such a difficult year."
TO SEE
Angela Tiatia, The Dark Current, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, until April 27 2025
