Home

Sometimes we search our entire lives looking for somewhere to belong, to be a part of family and to have relationships but in the end what we are looking for was always there, you just needed to feel it.

"When you finally realise the home we long for and think we need was never something outside of ourselves, you see that all we needed to do was embrace, nurture, and accept the home we have within. It is a home we carry every day; only then do we begin to live. This body of work is an exploration of how I view the world and what it means to find a home within myself."

About the artist

Fa'amele Etuale is a Contemporary Samoan artist whose passion stems from her foundational work as a painter, installation artist, and jeweller specialising in contemporary Samoan design. 

In 2018, Fa'amele graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts and an Advanced New Zealand Diploma in Jewellery from Manukau Institute of Technology. She went on to complete her Master’s in Applied Indigenous Knowledge in 2023 at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Since then, her unique artistic exploration and approach have garnered recognition through exhibitions, residencies, and inclusion in public collections, including the 2022 Pacific Collection at Auckland Museum and Otago Museum. 

In 2018, she was selected as an artist-in-residence at Artspace, New Zealand’s premiere contemporary art gallery, and in 2019, she exhibited in the New Emerging Artist Show at Fingers, New Zealand’s leading gallery for contemporary jewellery. 

Most recently, Fa’amele completed an intensive artist residency through The Papatūnga Programme at Te Tuhi (March–December 2024), where she pushed her practice into new conceptual territory. Her work from this residency reflects an evolved aesthetic and thematic depth, carrying forward ideas that challenge and expand the discourse around contemporary Samoan art.

Image courtesy of the artist