Textile studies on grief.

Hand-made in South Auckland.

Variable dimensions:

• Felt: 100 x 55mm
• Full length: 200mm

2025 | Felt, ric-rac, 10oz canvas base, fabric stiffener glue + nickel-coated kilt pin.

Vasemaca (FKA Ema) Tavola is a Fijian-Pākehā artist-curator currently based in South Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Tavola’s practice is aligned with the politics of decolonisation and indigenous feminisms, motherhood, and histories of BIPOC art and activism in the Global South. She established her painting practice in Suva, Fiji before relocating to South Auckland where she studied sculpture and arts management, and is currently undertaking postgraduate research in applied indigenous knowledge.

Since 2004, Tavola has produced curatorial projects for galleries and museums throughout Aotearoa and travelled extensively speaking on her approach to indigenous curatorial practice. In 2019, she established Vunilagi Vou, a shapeshifting gallery, creative studio and consultancy advocating for creative practice as a tool for connection, healing and decolonisation.

As a visual artist, Tavola has been exhibiting since 2000 showing in Fiji, Aotearoa, Europe, North America, Australia and the Pacific. She has work in public and private collections both nationally and internationally.

Born in Suva, Tavola is proud to belong to Mataqali Navusalevu, a sub-tribe of Natusara, from the village of Dravuni, the northernmost inhabited island of the province of Kadavu, Fiji.

For more information, see https://vasemacatavola.com/about/