In her catalogue essay for the exhibition sis – Pacific Art 1980-2023, Moana writer Lana Lopesi says she grew up being called “sis” by her girlfriends, but adds, ‘yet within Pacific diasporic spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand, there is often visible discomfort at any mention of the word “feminism”’.
It follows the major exhibition presented by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki last year, Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda curated by Ane Tonga. Like McDougall, she shares the belief that Pacific feminism has always existed, despite not being described as such.
