Lizzie Luamanu is an Aotearoa New Zealand–born Samoan artist whose practice is grounded in storytelling, humour, and everyday life. Drawing from her upbringing and family experiences, she is interested in how stories are shared through conversation, gossip, and moments that are often overlooked.

Her work embraces randomness as a way of reflecting how stories are remembered and retold out of order, interrupted, and shaped by personality. She often works through crafting as a way to think and tell stories, allowing ideas to form slowly and imperfectly. Through humour and informality, Lizzie’s work values lived experience, memory, and connection over fixed or polished narratives.

talanoaaga fa’alilolilo — private conversationsBold text

Opens 22nd May 2026
Kū Kāhiko Gallery
11am
64 Rosebank Road, Avondale

This work takes the form of a Samoan flag stretched in space. During the making process, fragments of private conversations, passing comments, and small moments were stitched directly into the surface of the flag. The text appears imperfectly and in different shades of red and blue, blending into the colours of the flag rather than standing out.

The stitching sits quietly, like whispers or overheard talk. Rather than presenting a single story, the work holds what happened around it as it was being made conversations, thoughts, and moments that became part of the process. The flag becomes both a familiar symbol and a personal record, reflecting how stories and language move through family spaces: softly, out of order, and shaped by who is present.

Presented during Samoan Language Week, the work acknowledges language as something lived and shared, carried through everyday conversation rather than formal declaration.