Ep. 44: Returning Home and Indigenous Art with Moana Palelei Iose

This episode features Moana Iose who is an artist and Indigenous art policy consultant, as well as the founder of Salt Lake City’s Pasifika First Fridays and the Lost Eden Gallery. We begin with a look back to our global crossing of paths and our shared connections at Auckland Uni. Moana was involved in the ‘I too am Auckland’ project while she studied at Waipapa Taumata Rau (formerly Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, a.k.a. University of Auckland), where she drew inspiration from Black student organising at Harvard to help catalyse discussions of race for Māori and Pacific students in New Zealand’s universities. We reflect on being from, living outside of, and then returning to Salt Lake City, and the complicated love we have for this place and the simultaneous frustration we have with this society. Moana shares her views and work with Indigenous art and responding to community and place, while challenging the dominant narratives that have been imposed on folks of colour. She also shares some of the story behind the fiercely local and yet internationally reaching Lost Eden gallery and the young Indigenous artists who are currently based there. We conclude with reflections on being critically conscious in our current moment, developing a sense of stewardship and connection to where we live, and valuing the significance of art in our world.