We start the first of new VFD Artist in Residence this month with Momoe Tasker. Stay tuned for more information to follow on the upcoming journey and workshops from the artist and work. A bit about the artist below and previous works.
Momoe Tasker
My name is Momoe i manu ae ala ateaé. Together we sleep, until the birds wake us.
I was born in 1984, Taitoko (Levin), Aotearoa (N.Z.), opposite the Donald Duck park. It set me up for a lifetime of randomness and displacement. Raised in London, I have lived in Dhaka, Ulaanbaatar and Kampala, where in 1988 I had a disabling near-fatal car crash. My mother, A'e malo malo tiafau is from Apia, Samoa and my father Peter is from Sheffield, England. My lineage is a mixture of Samoan, Chinese, German and British.
I am a multidisciplinary artist. I work with fabric, textiles and illustration but if you ask me what I do, I will always answer first, ''I am a block printer''.
I am a member of In*ter*Is*land Collective and Beats of Polynesia. I am in two bands: drummer for IMMIGRANTI, a poc queer punk band; lyricist and lead vocal for GUTTS, a queer sax punk band.
I was the only Polynesian at that time in my primary and secondary school and again during my time in college and into my adulthood. My mother lead a Pacific Island dance troupe in the 90s; she has always been a dancer, still is. You might assume that growing up around Pasifika dance and music, it would give me a sense of belonging but actually I've always felt displaced. Othered. The few Polynesian kids that I knew lived on the other side of London and it was like a gift when we would be together because these people looked like me. They smelt like me. They had Samoan mothers like me.
My love for printing started 8 years ago when I took a Japanese wood block printing course at City Lit in Covent Garden. I then went onto discover other methods of printing and became totally obsessed. The teacher said ''you have to surrender to the process'' and I have ever since. Surprisingly through this process I discovered that I already had this skill in my blood. It did not occur to me at the start that printing is and has always been a significant part of Samoan and Pasifika culture. My people have been printing for centuries. Making their marks on tapa (mulberry bark) cloth, adorning their lava lava with images of the earth, sky and sea and telling their stories through tatau on their bodies. Forever reminding them and others of our beautiful culture and the journey of our people. Now wide awake having connected the knowledge of printing to my own heritage, it has become an integral part of my creative outlet.
I am a block printer. I love it, it turns me on. Not knowing how an image is going to turn out until you pull back the paper is both exciting and exhausting. The velcro-like sound that emanates from the roller being manipulated back and forth through the tacky ink is sexy: do I have your attention? Good. Block printing is demanding and deserves respect. It is ancient. I draw inspiration from my personal life experiences, my communities, and rage.
