Talita Toluta'u

Abstract References:

Violeti, T. M. (2006). Talanoa Research Methodology: A developing position on pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12, 21-34.

Churchward, M. C. (1959). Tongan Dictionary, Tongan-English and English-Tongan. Tonga: The Gover of Tonga printing press.

Mahina, O. (1993). The poetics of Tongan traditional history: Tala-e-fonua. The Journal of Pacific History, 28, 109-121.

Links: Project case study

Tapa cloth at heart of doctorate in art (NZ Herald article)

Veitalatala

Matanga ‘oe Talanoa

Talita Tolutau PhD thesis project Veitalatala: Matala ‘o e Talanoa is concerned with representation, considering the nature of a culturally located narrative form called Veitalatala and its creative translation into film and Ngatu prints. The designed outcome of this project considers the memories of Tongan women who left their homeland to settle abroad.

Portrait of Senolita Vatuvei Afemui (1500mm x 2000mm)
The work is a creative synthesis of those women’s talanoa, into a new form of documentary and Ngatu prints that is designed to capture the cultural and emotional resonance of their stories. Veitalatala: Matala ‘o e Talanoa orchestrates photography, animation, sound design, filmed footage, and extensive post-production research into a unique text that seeks to move the parameters of documentary beyond the visual interview.  In doing so, the research draws heavily on Tongan paradigms of narrative and representation
Potrait of Telesia Afeaki Tonga (1500mm x 2000mm)

Talanoa is a distinctive Tongan construct that Vaioleti (2006) suggests is a face-to-face, formal or informal exchange of spoken ideas. He notes, “Tala means to inform, tell, relate and command, as well as to ask or apply. Noa means of any kind, ordinary, nothing in particular, purely imaginary or void” (p.23).

 

Potrait of Lesini Finau Vakalahi (1500mm x 2000mm)

Twelve consecutive frame grabs from ‘Faleloa’; the filimic veitalatala of Lesini Finau Vakalahi

Veitalatala is a specific development of this narrative construct. Churchward (1959) defines Veitalatala as a distinctively poetical form of talanoa.  Mahina (1993) suggests that the human memory in oral transmission is risky and Tongans have devised a variety of formal ways whereby events may be preserved by word of mouth through generations. 

Such poetical forms of preservation exist in present day Tongan society through myths (talatupu’a), legends (fananga), chants (laulau), poetry (ta’anga) and oratory (tufunga lea). The thesis asks if film when treated as Veitalatala might be poetic yet a culturally consistent means of preserving histories and memories of the Tongan people.

Description of the thesis research design (Talita Kiume Toluta’u, 2014)

Tolutau’s practice-led inquiry employs the Tongan methodological framework of kakala to consider the stories of four Tongan hou’eiki fafine migrants. It seeks to design a unique, culturally appropriate method and form for sharing stories of migration and loss that engages talanoa and synthesises this into a filmic veitalatala.

Digital printing in process in 2013, at the AUT University Textile Design Laboratory in Auckland.

Restoration of ngatu portait of Lesini Finau Vakalahi (September 2014). The adhesive was applied in very light layers, allowing the work to dry completely before resealing layers of the feta’aki

Final exhibiton in 2015, at the AUT University

Abstract References:

Violeti, T. M. (2006). Talanoa Research Methodology: A developing position on pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12, 21-34.

Churchward, M. C. (1959). Tongan Dictionary, Tongan-English and English-Tongan. Tonga: The Gover of Tonga printing press.

Mahina, O. (1993). The poetics of Tongan traditional history: Tala-e-fonua. The Journal of Pacific History, 28, 109-121.

Links: Project case study

Tapa cloth at heart of doctorate in art (NZ Herald article)

Centre for Design Research
Te Kura Toi a Hoahoa
School of Art and Design

Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau,
Auckland University of Technology

Contact:

Susan Hedges susan.hedges@aut.ac.nz
Mandy Smith mandy.smith@aut.ac.nz

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish images or illustrations with their papers in CDR; neither editors nor publishers of CDR accept responsibility for any author’s/authors’ failure to do so.

© Centre for Design Research, AUT University 2021