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  • SOPOLEMALAMA FILIPE TOHI

    • Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi is a tufuga lalava, an expert in the Tongan art of binding with coconut sennit.

      Filipe was born in Ngele‘ia, Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, and immigrated to New Zealand in 1978. His contemporary paintings and sculptures are imbued with his Pacific island heritage. The incorporated Pacific and Maori iconography in his work goes deeper than the immediate visual reaction. Filipe is a master craftsman of the traditional art of lalava - the Pan-Pacific technology used on houses, canoes, and tools before the introduction of Western materials. He has studied the construction of lalava to understand the patterns and language hidden inside

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