Dalosa, Lafo & Iva

Dalosa, Lafo & Iva is a new group exhibition opening at The Physics Room Contemporary Art Space in Christchurch on Thursday 27 March at 5.30 pm. Showcasing three early career Samoan artists, Lolani Dalosa, Ma’alo Lafo and Axel Iva.

Curated by James Tapsell-Kururangi, the exhibition asks ‘how do we prioritise the relationships we hold with ourselves, our whānau, and past images of our loved ones?’ This question is explored through the mediums of photography, sculpture and installation.

Artist Bio

Ma’alo Lafo is an artist hailing from the villages of Falealili & Taufusi. Raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Lafo is a lens-based practitioner who documents his local community in Ōtara, friends and family. He is an active member of the South Auckland Photoclub, and was the recipient of the 2024 Vuli Tara Mentoring Programme with Moana Fresh.

Dubbed Axel Iva—a Samoan artist with bloodlines from Apolima, Iva, Salelavalu, and Salelologa, born and based in Māngere East, Tāmaki Makaurau. Iva’s creative practice involves craft and design, ranging from tactile techniques to technological applications. His exploration of semantics, semiotics and Samoan life catalyse his seriocomic pieces and concepts. Iva was a 2023 recipient of the Tautai Fale-ship artist's residency, during which he completed the series A’E, I.O.U, a 17-piece, mixed media homeware collection, indexed according to the Samoan alphabet.

Lolani Dalosa is a Samoan and Filipino artist and curator, raised in Tāmaki Makaurau. His father is from Eastern Samar in the Philippines, and his mother hails from the village of Lepea, Samoa. Dalosa is a co-founder of the South Auckland design and art collective ‘Raroboys’. His practice encompasses mixed media, design, printmaking, and photography. Dalosa is interested in cultural iconography, featuring recognisable characters and objects from his visual lexicon. Dalosa's most recent exhibitions include Character Studies, 2024 at Te Tuhi, and Someone's at The Door, 2023 at Papakura Art Gallery, and was included in Do Not Alter, 2021 at Corban Estate Arts Centre, and Cross My Heart, 2022 at The Nix. Dalosa was the recipient of the 2023 Oceanic Internship with Tautai and Te Uru, and curator of Raroboys Vol.3, 2024 at Studio One Toi Tū.