Off the mark(ings)

Off the mark(ings) is a resistance against the enduring effects of colonisation and militarisation on the environment and Pacific arts. In this solo exhibition, Etanah Lalau-Talapa builds an expanded worldview from shells, birds, and deep textile histories. The works span digital prints, lightboxes, and painted glass, drawing on siapo mamanu (free-hand drawing), personal and ancestral experiences, and knowledge shared across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. The exhibition considers how these circulate through digital and physical realms, and the importance of digital self-determination for Pacific cultures. Key works include Uso (2023), featuring three grandmothers as figures of matrilineal knowledge; Lurkin' through my aiga rim (2024) and Carry the popo, and carry the smartphone (2024), which glow like portals while engaging with questions of data sovereignty and social media's impact on Samoan communities; and 'Ele'ele (2024), painted directly on the gallery windows. Throughout, Lalau-Talapa oscillates between digital and physical worlds as meditations on culture, motherhood, and art-making in the contemporary.