ONGO: (RE)SOUNDING THE VĀ

pātaka art+museum, PORIRUA aOTEAROA new zealand

28 March–19 July 2026

Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi Dr Adriana Māhanga Lear

Dr Rachael Hall & Dr Sione Faletau

Ongo: (Re)sounding the Vā brings ancient Tongan music traditions, instruments and sonic pathways into the present, giving voice to ancestral ways of being, knowing and doing. Grounded in ongo, a Tongan concept encompassing sound, hearing and embodied feeling – the works engage in dialogue with archival collections, language and the fonua (people and environment) to navigate resonant futures. Central to the exhibition is the fangufangu, the Tongan bamboo nose flute. The artists work in close relationship with three fangufangu from Te Papa’s Pacific collection. Through practices of design, making, composition and performance, these practices extend across sonic, visual and material forms, activating a relational space (vā) that reaches beyond the present, into both ancestral pasts and unfolding futures.

‘Oku toe fakafoki mai ‘ehe (Toe)fakaongo ‘ae Vā ‘ae ngaahi tukufakaholo hiva, me‘alea moe ngaahi halanga-fasi FakaTonga tupu‘a, kihe lotolotonga, koe le‘o kihe founga ‘iai, vakai moe fai tu‘ufonua. ‘Oku fepōtalanoa‘aki ‘ae ngaahi ngāue moe ngaahi tānaki‘anga-koloa, pē ‘ākaivi, lea pea moe fonua (kakai moe ‘ātakai) ke fakafolau kihe ngaahi ongo kaha‘u—‘o humaki he ongo, koe fakakaukau-fakaongo FakaTonga—‘enau fakasino mai he ongo, fanongp moe ongo‘i. ‘Oku tefito ‘ae faka‘ali‘ali he fangufangu, koe me‘alea-ifiihu kofe FakaTonga. ‘Oku ngāue‘aki vāofi ‘ehe kau ‘ātisi ‘ae ngaahi fangufangu ‘e tolu meihe tānaki‘anga koloa Pasifiki ‘a Te Papa. ‘Oku ope atu ‘ae ngaahi ngāue he ngaahi fasi, ‘ata moe sino, he‘enau fakatupu ‘ae vā ‘oku hope atu, meihe lotolotonga, kihe ngaahi kuohili tu‘ufonua, moe ngaahi kaha‘u mafola fakamatapapa, ‘o fou he ngaahi ngāue tufunga moe ngaohi moe fa‘u.

Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi Dr Adriana Māhanga Lear

‘U‘ulu e toka—The stones droned, 2025

single channel HD video, 9 mins 57 secs. Installation 24 fangufangu, concrete bricks, sand, fans, feta’aki (plain tapa)

Courtesy of the artist

U'ulu e toka explores rituals of remembrance through a collective memorial installation. As part of the exhibition opening of Ongo: (Re)Sounding the Vā, members of the community were invited to take part in their own ritual of remembrance, by contributing to the installation by marking strips of feta’aki (plain tapa) with the names of ancestors or passed loved ones. The artist extends a heartfelt mālō ‘aupito to all those who contributed to the collective community memorial, which will be honoured by scheduled activātions throughout the exhibition program, including a special ceremony of return for the contributors - please keep an eye out on Pātaka socials.

‘U'ulu e toka explores ways in which we seek to remember and to be remembered through tangible and intangible interventions in the landscape (fonua). It engages the fangufangu (bamboo nose-flute) as a vaka (vehicle/conduit) of connection, communication and remembrance between the living on Maama (earth) and the dead in Pulotu (ancestral homeland and afterworld). The work extends the artist’s personal memorial to their Grandfather into a collective space for ancestral remembrance and recognition of shared mourning. The title, ‘U‘ulu e toka echoes a sung line from Tutulu ‘a ‘Ene ' ‘Afió ‘i he Pekia 'a Fusipalá, written by Queen Sālote to commemorate the death of her sister.

Through aesthetic enactments of māmālie such as silent and slowed down visuals, 'U'ulu e toka creates a temporal-spatiality that is reflective of Tongan rituals and protocols surrounding mate (death) and kau mate (the dead/deceased). The video documents a fangufangu performance by the artist at their ancestral mala‘e (burial place) in Tu‘anuku, Vava’u, Tonga. Sitting by her great grandparents’ sand graves lined with concrete bricks, the fangufangu cried in choir with the birds and wind that echoed through a bamboo stand. At the mala‘e, there is no maka fakamanatu (memorial stone) for Adriana’s grandfather, Kisione Kalonitini Māhanga, who went missing in 1986. In response, Adriana has created 24 fangufangu – some made using bamboo from the mala‘e site – to commemorate the date issued for his death.

Photography credit: Nikki Parlane