Emily Greenwood
About
If Eurocentric art history is the standard, ‘O maluʻi ʻa Tupou’* recontextualizes the standard to fit the Pasifika diaspora’s post-colonial framework. I continue to unravel ancestral histories through my post- colonial lens. Juxtaposing my contemporary punk sub- cultural influences from the Post- Modernist period with my ancestral history. I have made a series of Tongan flags, all unique with different approaches to mark making. Using punk art making process, I draw aesthetic influences from contemporary Eurocentric cultural icons like the Pearly Kings and Queens of London and Queer culture’s drag aesthetics. I explore the tongue-in-cheek side of punk, with spray painted slogans like ‘oku ‘ikai ke u lava ‘o lea faka- Tongan’ (English translation: ‘I can’t speak Tongan’) or ‘liliu mei he Google’ (English translation: ‘Translated from Google’). This cultural adaption is meant to be a means of soft and palatable political rejection of the expectation of Pasifika assimilation into Western culture. A flag represents who you are. I claim many identities, the two important ones being a Tongan and a feminist punk. Because who else would make a Sex Pistol’s inspired Tongan flag, if it was not me? The Sex Pistols sang God Save The Queen, yeah God save Queen Sālote.
Bio
Emily Greenwood is a mixed- Tongan artist and writer based on the unceded lands of the Darug people. Their work consists of themes involving body dysmorphia, intergenerational trauma, loss of culture, sexism, racism and classism. Recently they have began to investigate the intersections of Pasifika and Eurocentric art histories through their conceptual exploration of cultural appropriation and adaption. Their most significant work to date is their self written, produced, and published intersectional feminist zine GRRL ZINE.