Tanu Gago

Tanu Gago MNZM is a visual artist, film maker and co-founder of arts collective FAFSWAG.[1] He received a New Zealand Queens Birthday honour in 2019 for services to art and the LGBTIQ+ community.

Tanu Gago

New Zealand Order of Merit
a man with short black hair, a tidy beard and moustache smiles directly at the camera. he has a black jacket with a medal and a black shirt. He is also wearing a fine mat woven from natural fibres
Tanu Gago at his investiture (2019)
Born
Sāmoa
NationalityNew Zealand
Known forInterdisciplinary art, queer activism and filmmaking
Co-founder of artist collective FAFSWAG

Biography

Gago was born in 1983 in Sāmoa and grew up in Manukau City, Auckland, New Zealand.[2] He has a Bachelor of Arts in performing arts with a major in writing and directing for screen from Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland.[2]

A photographic exhibition of Gago's called Avanoa o Tama (2012) had as the subject Polynesian men and explored notions of gender and sexuality.[2] This exhibition was presented at Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki (CoCA).[3]

FAFSWAG was established in 2013 by Tanu Gago and Pati Solomona Tyrell. FAFSWAG is a collective that pioneer Ballroom culture in New Zealand, and exhibit around the world including Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, Rotterdam International Film Festival and ImagineNATIVE, Toronto, Canada. FAFSWAG represented New Zealand at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney.[4]

In 2014 Gago received the Auckland Festival of Photography Annual Commission.[5]

His artistic practice is:

the intersections of film, digital arts, animation, and interactive technologies, with an interest in building restorative narratives of queer Indigenous Moana experiences. (McCahon House Trust)

In 2018 Gago was the artist in residence at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury.[1]

In 2019 he was the Pacific community engagement coordinator for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation where he established the Love Life Fono Charitable Trust Board to support the Pacific LGBTIQ+ community.[6]

Over May to August in 2022 Gago was the artist-in-resident at McCahon House.[5]

Auckland Art Gallery hold art of Gago's in their collection,[2] and he has been part of the Auckland Council’s Pacific Arts and Culture Programme Board.[6]

Awards

In 2019 Gago was awarded a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art and the LGBTIQ+ community.[4][6]

In 2020 he received the Contemporary Pacific Artist award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards.[5]

References
  1. "Tanu Gago appointed UC Pacific Studies Artist in Residence 2018". The University of Canterbury. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. "Tanu Gago". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. "CoCA Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki". coca.org.nz. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  4. "FAFSWAG". Arts Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  5. "Tanu Gago | McCahon House". mccahonhouse.org.nz. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  6. "Investiture Ceremony 16 May 2019 | The Governor-General of New Zealand". gg.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
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