Siliga Setoga at Pecha Kucha Night #11 | Manukau Edition

Siliga Setoga and popohardwear

Siliga’s art is a reflection of living on the border of his Parents’ beloved Samoa and his New Zealand environment. “Our home was lil’ Samoa on a Palagi street in Mt Eden, Central Auckland.” Siliga’s Parents filled their home and family life with fa’a-Samoa. Siliga refers to his home as a “decolonized zone” where Samoan was the only language – “we were smacked if we spoke English”. He recalls his Mum’s Tauloto (scripture verse) “You speak English when you go to school but when you come home you speak Samoan”. But growing up with such strong Samoan influences in Auckland created a sense of confusion that contributed to Siliga “feeling neither here nor there and always wondering, questioning and searching for a place of belonging”. This search for belonging is a continual theme in his art, whether the belonging that his Parents’ generation struggled for or the belonging that his generation of New Zealand-born Samoans ache for.