Angela Tiatia is a visual artist, with a practice that is only expanding in scope.

In 2002 Angela received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland receiving a senior prize for academic excellence in her final year. In addition to this Angela then graduated from AUT University with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2010. Since then she has been prolific in the art community exhibiting both nationally and abroad. In 2011 she was a finalist in the Bold Horizons National Art Award and was one of only five artists chosen to be represented by Alcaston Gallery at the Melbourne Art Fair,

Having grown up between Auckland, Australia and Samoa and drawing from her rich heritage, Angela’s work explores how this reoccurring relocation has affected her life personally.  All the while recognising how the moving of people relates to a global audience – acknowledging that Pacific Islanders are only one of many societies who are affected by cultural displacement.  Ideas of diaspora, notions of power exchange and the colonial and commercial gaze are only some of the themes that Angela investigates within her practice.  The concern then becomes how these devices inform identity – personal, societal and global – and what this means for the people concerned.

Angela’s work for Tino I le Vā and Melbourne Art Fair 2014 for Alcaston Gallery featured the video piece Walking the Wall which is part of the ongoing series An Inventory of Gestures. In this Angela openly displays her sacred malu, exposing herself to criticism through this act of cultural Samoan taboo.  The work further considers the tensions between global and local norms with particular interest in the conventions placed upon femininity.  By confronting these forbidden constitutions she is challenging stereotyping in both the Pacific and non-Pacific communities.

Angela has exhibited in a number of group and solo exhibitions including: lai-pā, ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland, 2017; Survey / Fā’aliga, Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Auckland, 2016; Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT 8), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 2015; Art Stabs Power: que se vayan todos! in London and Portugal, 2014;  Tino i le Vā at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, 2014; Melbourne Art Fair represented by Alcaston Gallery Melbourne, 2014; Stitching the Sea, Blacktown Arts Centre, New South Wales, Australia, 2014; The Screen, Enjoy Public Art Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, 2014; Made in Oceania. Material Culture, Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Köln, Germany, 2013; Foreign Objects, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, Auckland 2011.