art practices. The following year, Kalisolaite was one of four artists selected and nominated for the well-known biennial Auckland Art Gallery Walters Prize, 2014. In 2015 Kalisolaite was the recipient of the Pasifika Post Graduate Scholarship (Art and Design) towards a Master of Performance and Media Arts at Auckland University of Technology.
Kalisolaite’s practice seamlessly draws from both Tongan notions of being and Euro-American art historical legacies of performance from the 1960s onwards. What makes his work unique is his experiential approach. Rather than performing ideas, he manifests them into metaphors which determine a way of being. For an unassuming audience looking to the artist for some kind of explanation Kalisolaite’s silence forces a projection of your own thoughts and feelings.
During the second iteration of his performance Mo’ui Tukuhausia at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Kalisolaite spent some time at Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter. Becoming transfixed by the motions of the ocean inspired his next work Ongo Mei Moana. Ongo Mei Moana performed on Oriental Bay was a part of the 2015 Performance Arcade in Wellington. Through Tongan oration and choreography Kalisolaite conducted the sea for six hours from low to high tide at every low tide for 5 days. In this performance Kalisolaite was referencing the ocean not as something that divides countries but as a way of connecting people. Wearing ngatu and si leaves Kalisolaite is referencing his family lineage of Tongan mariners who used to go offshore to the Tongan-Kermadec volcanic arc collecting black rocks used to decorate cemeteries. This performance is a sophisticated blend of past, present, personal and global.
Kalisolaite has exhibited in a number of group and solo exhibitions including: Politics of Sharing: On Collective Wisdom, Artspace, Auckland, 2017; Kohikohi, Fresh Gallery ÅŒtara, Auckland, 2016; Ongo Mei Moana, Performance Arcade, 2015; Walters Prize Finalists Exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, 2014; Tonga Democracy Festival, Atenisi University, Tonga, 2014; Puehu: Cultural Dust, The Suter Arts Gallery, Nelson; More Than We Know, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, 2013; What do you mean we?, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, 2012; Reflection on Rena, Bay of Plenty Polytech, Tauranga, 2012; Stowaway + The Performance Arcade, New Zealand Fringe Festival, Wellington + Te Papa Museum, Wellington, 2012; Matala celebration of Tongan Artists, Mangere Arts Centre, 2012; The Anatomy of Paradise, Mother Man, Artstation, Auckland, 2012;  Auckland Fringe Festival, Mangere Arts Centre – NgÄ Tohu o Uenuku, 2011; Pigs in the Yard, Performance Arcade, Aotea Square, 2011; TILT, St Paul St Gallery 3, Auckland, 2010; Make/Shift, St Paul St Gallery, Auckland, 2010; Don’t Pacify Me, St Paul St Gallery, Auckland, 2009.