Established in 1992, the collective has evolved over the past three decades, and some members’ children now form part of the group, which advocates for the environment, Indigenous, POC and queer rights, and body sovereignty.
Pacific Sisters’ 21st sentry cyber sister, 1997, Tapa (bark cloth), feathers, bone, harakeke (New Zealand flax), nylon, shells, seeds, coconut shell, videotape, plastic.Credit: Te Papa
Music is a big part of what they do, driving their performances. In the ’90s, when they were trying to promote Maori and Pasifika music – in the days before Spotify and YouTube – Pacific Sister appearances were often the first time audiences had heard those sounds.
One of their main Melbourne shows is Frocktivation at the Arts Centre on March 1, a mash-up of live music, spoken word, taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) and processional movement in which they perform in their recently made garments before they go on display. The Sisters have also fashioned pieces in response to Split Enz’s famous suits – designed by the band’s drummer Noel Crombie – which are house in the Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre.
FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA at Bunjil Place is a survey show of the Sisters’ work, featuring fashion, performance, music and film from the last three decades. Locals are invited to try their hand at Moana making practices and dress up in their favourite outfits.
“Think Melbourne Cup Day, all that fabulous gear. Here’s another day to wear it, or maybe you’ve got a cultural version,” Woodbury says. “Maybe you’ve got something tucked away, and you’re like, ‘I’m going to bring out Nan’s lace because it’s so hot’, or that special crochet dress you’ve been stashing in the back of the cupboard.”
Pacific Sisters in protest mode at Auckland War Memorial Museum.Credit: Nephi Tupaea
Audiences are encouraged to “get funky and adorn yourself”.
“Do something, make your hair fabulous. Add [something] to your ankle and just put a pip in your step. Fluffy fluffies are one of our very famous items, made from all kinds of materials … they’re all ways to just go, ‘Hey, I’m going to crown myself’.”
At ACMI, the Sisters feature in The Future and Other Fictions, which they describe as their tech show. It evolved when they were meant to go to Hawaii but couldn’t because of the pandemic. Instead, they created eight portraits and then embedded augmented reality into them, which can be shown anywhere in the world.
“People can download the Pacific Sisters app, and then they can see and hear moving image and sound. So they get a taste of Aotearoa and a bit of flavour of us, with us actually not being there,” says Tamaki.
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When the collective began, there were no set rules, she says. “We didn’t come from an art school or a place of traditional learning. We were teaching ourselves and teaching each others how to make and create, and then we could be whatever we wanted to be, and by sharing our stories … find the similarities within our cultures, the stories that we shared, the languages that we shared.”
Raymond identifies with “rematriation”, a concept recently coined by a Native American woman. “So what’s the opposite to the patriarchy? Matriarchy. But also looking at rematriation as a way of really connecting and grounding with the Mother Earth, with your tribal connections, your tribal histories, and through that building up collective knowledge. When I heard that, I was like, wow – that’s what the Pacific Sisters have been doing for a long, long time.”
FROCKTIVATION is at Arts Centre Melbourne on March 1, FROCK A WHANAUNGATANGA is at Bunjil Place until March 9, and The Future and Other Fictions is at ACMI until April 27. www.asiatopa.com.au
