In Where the Wild Roses Grow, artist Sione Monū presents the latest evolution of their ongoing cloud-making practice, an extension of experimental works that explore the intersections of traditional Tongan adornment and contemporary diasporic identity. Drawing from nimamea‘a tuikakala—the Tongan fine art of flower design—Monū reimagines the kahoa (garland), shifting it from wearable adornment into a sculptural form that speaks to transformation, adaptation, and the fluidity of cultural tradition.
Monū’s cloud series, first conceived in 2020, has taken on various iterations, each crafted from synthetic materials such as plastic flowers and beading. This deliberate use of non-traditional materials reflects the realities of Tongan life in the diaspora, where cultural practices persist but often adapt in response to new environments and resources. Through this material interplay, Monū highlights the tension between the ephemeral and the eternal, the organic and the manufactured, creating works that embody both nostalgia and reinvention.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Monū’s practice extends beyond sculpture to include moving image, photography, drawing, and performance, all of which explore themes of queerness, cultural memory, and fluid identity. Their work has been exhibited in major public institutions in Aotearoa and Australia, including the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Te Tuhi, Objectspace, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Pun o Waiwhetū and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Across these spaces, Monū has continuously challenged conventional narratives of Tongan and Pacific representation, bringing a playful yet critical lens to the ways in which tradition is both preserved and reimagined in contemporary diasporic contexts.
Within Where the Wild Roses Grow, Monū’s clouds become both symbols and vessels—holding within them the histories of kahoa, the resilience of Pacific adornment traditions, and the shifting landscapes of Tongan identity in Aotearoa. These works do not simply replicate heritage but instead suggest a continuum, a conversation between past and present where cultural expression is never static but always in motion. By situating the kahoa within a sculptural and conceptual framework, Monū reaffirms the power of adornment as a site of storytelling, self-definition, and collective memory within the Pacific diaspora.
Through this exhibition, Monū extends an invitation to consider the evolving nature of Tongan cultural practices—how they move, adapt, and take new forms, much like the floating, shifting clouds that serve as both metaphor and material for this deeply personal and culturally resonant body of work.
