Memory, Healing, and Letting Go: Reflecting on the Dawn Raids
‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata – The Darkness has moved away; the light is starting to come in.
- Susuga Leiataua Le Sa Mulufuiana
‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata refers to both the title of the upcoming exhibition held at Toi Pōneke Arts Centre, and the way that many remember the Dawn Raids. Although this is a period associated with trauma, discrimination and feelings of unsafety, ‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata invites an opportunity to engage with this history, while giving Pasifika the agency to let go and bring forward aspects of healing.
Artist Liana Leitaua explores themes of identity, memory and symbolism in their art practice, which is reflected in the upcoming exhibition. Over the course of this last year, Pasifika have worked with Liana in an initiative that brings Te Papa, Toi Pōneke Arts Centre, Pātaka Art and Museum, PACIFICA, and Manatū Taonga – the Ministry of Culture and Heritage together in partnership. As a result of this highly collaborative process, Pasifika youth will present artworks they made in workshops with Liana. By doing so, they seek to create a path towards healing, reclamation, peace, and restoration of the mana for future generations to come.
Liana is an artist based in Porirua, Wellington and currently uses her art practice to allow conversations to take place in relation to the Dawn Raids. As a mural artist, she has given the Wellington scene vibrancy and life. Her artwork reflects on different connections to memory and significant cultural symbolism, including the use of siapo. Joining together bright colour and Pasifika identity, her current mural project commissioned by Te Papa will be painted on the back wall of Wesley Church on Taranaki Street. Here, her work is influenced by the talanoa with Pasifika youth, drawing from their understanding of the Dawn Raids, which is also featured in ‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata. The mural will also feature a portrait of Susuga Leiataua Le Sa Mulufuiana, a significant Samoan leader in the community, as well as Liana Leiataua’s father.
Wesley Church has been a beacon for Pasifika people and protected their communities during the Dawn Raids by housing people, holding meetings, and spreading awareness of the mistreatment implemented by the New Zealand government when they watched, threatened, and ultimately forcibly removed Pasifika people from their homes. Invited to Aotearoa to work, many Pasifika were excited at the prospect of being able to support their families, and as Liana expresses, “to keep the home fire going.” When they arrived, the work conditions were poor and they were often severely underpaid. These conditions were not what was promised by the government. An overstayer policy was enforced, which then gave the police the ability to commit illegal activity including unwarranted searches and improper interrogations. These police raids often took place at dawn, leading to the term, the Dawn Raids. They targeted Pacific communities, but with an aim to not only remove people from the country and away from their new families, but to burden their identity further by proclaiming them as different and as outsiders. These policies did not apply to any other group that immigrated to New Zealand for work. The pain caused by these events are still present in people today, who remember and hold this grief. There are Pasifika that still hold on to their passport for fear of having to prove their right to live here. This trauma is part of ‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata, which acknowledges this pain, and reveals how the severe and racially prejudiced treatment of Pasifika have made long term impacts. At the same time, the space also tries to move past this grief, to bring new perspectives of openness and healing for those that experienced this difficult period.
The connection between family, memory, and healing are all important details that Liana brings to light, not just in the mural, but in the upcoming exhibition at Toi Pōneke as well. The exhibition navigates the balance between darkness and light, featuring historic photographs of Pasifika from the time period, and paintings created by Pasifika youth in the same space. In their works, these children who were supported by their families have given their own insight to what they know about the Dawn Raids, supplying a way out from the darkness. Liana refers to it as a “healing wall,” as their voices rise out of this ongoing process of understanding. A work by Liana from 2019 will also be featured, that further helps viewers to think through what the Dawn Raids has meant for Pasifika.
Part of what ‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata reflects on is how the remembering of the Dawn Raids is an incomplete process. No matter what stage viewers are in, everyone is invited to this space to engage with this history, whether that is to confront it or first encounter it. Liana reminds viewers that “that’s our story – but it’s also a universal story.” As people learn more, the artists here ask for understanding and patience towards the struggles in persecution and discrimination. She reiterates, that thinking through the Dawn Raids should build processes of aroha, rather than to hold on to mamae.
Through this exploration of the Dawn Raids, one can reflect on their own history and understanding of immigration. Our stories are not the same, but together we can learn from our own experiences, and try to find the words to express the truth in our identity For all New Zealanders, the Dawn Raids is a part of their history, and impact everyone here in various ways. It is a key moment to acknowledge, no matter your own relationship to it. Learning about ‘Ua Tafa Mai Ata is one way to begin to acknowledge injustice that occurs close to home. Even though awareness about the Dawn Raids continues to spread, there will always be more stories to hear out, and people that have a voice to share.
Ua Tafa Mai Ata opens at 10:00 am Saturday 19 October at Toi Pōneke Gallery, 61 Abel Smith Street. The exhibition will be open until Friday 15 November.
There will be a Facebook Livestream of Liana painting the mural on Wednesday 23 October at 2:00pm. There will also be a Talanoa held in the gallery space about from historians working on the Understanding Dawn Raids project on Friday 08 November at 1:00pm.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DAWN RAIDS:
Ministry for Culture and Heritage “Understanding Dawn Raids” | Manatū Taonga
Ngā Taonga “Dawn Raids in the Archive,” 13 March 2024
Photo: The McCarthy Family with their new home in Newtown.
Written by Alysse Kanal-Scott