Untitled

At the Southern Motorway's East Tamaki off-ramp, a va'a or waka (canoe) marks the entrance to the South Auckland suburb of Ōtara. But this is no ordinary canoe, it's an upended boat standing tall and painted blood-red. The work, by Samoan-born, New Zealand-based artist Fatu Feu'u, was purchased by Ōtara Community Board in 2011, and is a fitting welcome to the neighbourhood, which has a high proportion of Pacific Island residents. Traditional Pacific symbols feature on the va'a. A frangipani carved into the wood and painted yellow represents the flowers of siapo or tapa cloth, and traditional linear Samoan patterns are etched into the front of the five-metre high artwork.

This sculpture reflects the spiritual and cultural identity of the Samoan people, which is also found in the paintings, woodcuts and lithographs Feu'u is more commonly known for. The red of the sculpture is the colour associated with chiefs in Pacific cultures and the yellow of the flower is the colour used to signify orator status in Samoa. Both are titles Feu'u has been honoured with in his homeland.

"In my culture," Feu'u told Art New Zealand, "values are expressed in various forms, religious and traditional. Fa'asamoa values are manifested in the conventions of ava (respect), fa'aloalo (reverence) and alof'a (love compassion and concern). They form the basis of the spiritual and cultural identity of the Samoan people."