Artist Niki Hastings-McFall was born and lives in West Auckland. Increasingly driven by research into her Pacific Island heritage since meeting with her Samoan father for the first time in 1992. Trained as a jeweller, Hastings-McFall has been working recently on large scale installation pieces so it is lovely to see her revisiting her jeweller background. These brooches retain the delicacy and exquisite detailing of her jewellery yet still encompass the Pacific themes she has been exploring through her installation pieces.

Her work explores what it means to be a New Zealander of Pacific Island descent living in the urban environment of the 21st century. Manipulating the very materials of that urban environment and juxtaposing commodity with traditional Pacific form Hastings-McFall offers us a melting pot of cultural messages and symbols.

“Both the forms and the materials utilised in my works are an integral and important part of their reading. By combining iconic Pacific forms and distinctly urban / ‘non-Pacific’ materials my intent is to create a visual representation of what it means to me to be of Pacific descent living in Aotearoa today.”

Niki Hastings-McFall