FEU’U

Samoan, Auckland artist Fatu Feu’u is pioneering the emergence of a Pacific identity in contemporary New Zealand Art. His work is unique - a combination of traditional Polynesian imagery with idioms of modern European art.
Born and raised on the remote Samoan island of Poutasi , he dreamed from an early age of becoming an artist and came to New Zealand at the age of twenty. Fatu saw New Zealand as a land of opportunity, but spent 12 years working in factories before pursuing his dream of becoming an artist. His early days as an artist, without a regular income, along with other hardships, cost him his family. Today, however, Fatu is a well established artist exhibiting regularly both in New Zealand and overseas. His public murals like that in the Aotea Centre has won wide spread acclaim and he is now among prestigious artists commissioned to do work such as this.
Fatu explains the motifs and traditions of his culture that inspire him in his work. He encourages talented young Island children to take up art as well as helping his elders to understand the reasons why he has chosen this as a profession.