Studio Kiin

Press

We successfully ran a Boosted x Moana campaign in October 2023, which enables Studio Kiin to launch our own press arm - soon to be named!
Our first three print projects are different literary and unique literary works:

• Kalokalo - published book of poetry and audiobook by Arieta Rika 

• Senikau ni Viti - three part illustrative poster series of flowers and plants endemic to Fiji by Elsie Andrewes

• Talanoa Mada - a card deck for storytellers who get stuck in the devising process by Emele Ugavule 

Kafai e he kitea e koe ni ata ko tona uiga ko tō tino e he ia iloa fakalogo ki ona laloga

or Ni ko mino ni gaca rawa nai yaloyalo, kena i balebale ni sa mino ni rawa ni vakila na nomū yago ka sa mino ni rawa ni rogo na nomū taliga (Vosa vakayale) or 无形象思维 (Simplified Chinese) is a series of live and digital works that negotiate, dissolve and reinforce cartographical perceptions of relationality and borders.

In this work, Studio Kiin probe the way geneaological knowledge transference is deconstructed, redefined, verified and rejected in the digital, and its impact on embodied ontologies in a futurepast where an inheritance cannot be visualised.

Emele Ugavule and Amy Zhang interrogate the cause and effect of the disembodiment of knowledge in the virtual, and the disruption of procedural memory in a live performance that brings together oratory, movement and original sound composition by Jane Stark. Natasha Ratuva reveals the reformation of memory retention, as a result of the introduction of Web 1.0. Conceptualising the compartmentalising of iTaukei iTovo, Natasha draws from family archives of knowledge captured through text, verbatim recordings and images to build a mirror of her internal digital harddrive on Web 3.0.

World Premiere
Commissioned and produced by Arts House as part of BLEED 2022.

Ancestor Incarnate (AI)

Ancestor Incarnate (AI) is an immersive theatrical work, that unpacks the relationship between native title cases against the British Crown, Indigenous Sovereignty & Climate Change.

Intertwining verbatim archives and testimonials with Indigenous mythology, oral storytelling and prose, music and choreographed movement and immersive digital technology, Ancestor Incarnate is an immersive experience that asks audiences to consider allyship & purity ethics amidst a climate crisis following the disastrous resolutions of COP26.

The research & development of Ancestor Incarnate is supported by the Australia Council through the Digital Fellowship initiative

Kuboha

Kuboha (meaning to weave in Kinyarwanda) is a new publication created by Studio Kiin that aims to collate the work of Indigenous thought leaders and artists, examining themes like migration, kinship, stories, place specific epistemologies and ontologies. These topics are all aimed at making people more aware of work being done within our global communities and how they can be part of the growing movement for Indigenous sovereignty.

This is a women-led project, that seeks to design and implement a collective editorial approach by appointing five editors from Fiji, Tokelau, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The running theme of this publication is elevating and connecting Indigenous worldviews. 

The development of Kuboha is supported by Creative NZ

Kalaga Atu

Kalaga Atu is a journey across Oceania that transcends time, space and place and calls ancestral wisdom into the lives of five siblings; each questioning their relationship to the bodies they inhabit, the spirits who guide them, and the sand, soil and salt that they love.

Kalaga Atu (to call), is an immersive performance experience. Directed and written by Tokelauan Fijian storyteller Emele Ugavule, worlds are woven together through original composition by Papua New Guinea-born soul singer Ngaiire, and choreography by Sāmoan dance artist Xavier Breed as we watch worlds intertwine, calling upon kinship ties between the people of the Great Ocean.

Kalaga Atu includes an after-hours viewing of the unmissable exhibitions Matisse: Life & Spirit and Matisse Alive. Wander through the galleries to see the images Matisse created inspired by his visit to the South Pacific, along with the art of contemporary Pacific artists Angela Tiatia and Robin White with Ebonie Fifita, followed by the mesmerising performance Kalaga Atu.

This work is commissioned by the Art Gallery of NSW supported by Atelier and Vicki Olsson.

Duration: 45 mins

Ceguva

Ceguva meaning ‘to breathe’ in Vosa Vakaviti is a collaborative & explorative storytelling digital residency led by Tokelauan Fijian storyteller, Emele Ugavule.

Throughout this movement residency about process, three expert Oceanic movers and choreographers are invited to be in conversation with emerging choreographers from the Asia Pacific about how to identify the multiplicity of time that they embody – settler time, soil time and self time.

This conversation is foundational for a broader exploration around building a sustainable industry that embeds genealogical wellbeing and blood memory into creative process as a proactive – rather than reactive – response to cultural safety and story sovereignty.

‘Ceguva’ asks – What do storytellers need to breathe? How do we begin, sustain and end creative process that breathes?

Each storyteller is moving through unique conversations relating to time & creativity including using ancestral lunar calendars, fishing & wind patterns, and intuitive waves to disrupt conditioned notions of time and productivity in creativity in relation to their generational and contemporary movement practices.

This digital research residency is commissioned by Create NSW and Critical Path

Haus of Memories

Haus of Memories is a multidisciplinary residency project led by Studio Kiin that explores and gathers fragments of how we archive and draw upon memory to honour our future past. Local artists, communities and friends are invited to contribute and engage with text, visual art and live performance that embodies and unpacks how we remember ourselves as Indigenous peoples. Each iteration builds upon the last.

Paper

The first iteration of Haus of Memories was held at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in response to the Paper Cut exhibition curated by Lee Kinsella. Our core creative kiin were commissioned to create works that responded to the theme of paper works.

On our final day of our first residency at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, The Amateka Series held a workshop that  navigated ways ancestral knowledge can be digitally archived. Amateka Series is a project by young Rwandan youth that’s curating experiences that nurture a culture of collective learning. The experiences they curate include virtual conferences, workshops and digitally archiving Rwandan history and culture. Their workshop explored archiving through mapping, conversation and various other knowledge exchanges such as teaching and playing games.

Haus of Memories

Dreams

The second iteration of Haus of Memories was held at Cool Change Contemporary, speaking to the theme dreams as doorways to Indigenous knowledge.

On the 23rd of October there was a closing ‘Artists in Conversation’ panel at the gallery.

Haus of Memories

The Bedroom

In the third iteration, Elsie Andrewes, Natasha Ratuva and Emele Ugavule present work that explores the domestication of memory institutions through elevating the bedroom as archive.

Māmā’s Maumaga

Māmā’s Maumaga is a Studio Kiin x Talanoa elder-led wellness initiative. From her garden, Māmā and her grandson, baby Emosi will be sharing lessons on growing food & herbs with you. We hope this will encourage you to learn more about the food you eat, where it’s grown, reducing waste in your household, the healing medicine plants share - and hopefully you will begin to grow your own garden if you aren’t already.

Gardening is good for our mental and spiritual health, and is a beautiful way to learn about the Country you are on. The soil is different everywhere you go, and so it means you have to listen and learn from the soil - not the other way around.

“My grandmother, Malia Hei, taught me how to garden from the age of five. Because we had no bees in Nukunonu, Tokelau, my job was to pollinate our vegetable plants. So when I garden, I think of my grandmother and our ancestors.”

Unravel

Unravel seeks to build relationships between creative practitioners and communities historically excluded from artistic institutions.

We do so in an effort to minimise tokenistic engagement and maximise critical impact by ‘unravelling’ the relationship between foundational pillars that uphold storytelling and the wider independent and commercial creative arts industries.