MOANA: New Contemporaries from Oceania at Scott Lawrie Gallery in Edinburgh brings together the work of eight artists who are showing in Scotland for the first time, all with a cultural heritage from the Pacific Ocean Moana region – Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands, and New Zealand, and offer us a glimpse into rich visual cultures quite different to European artistic traditions.

The Gallery was originally established in New Zealand in 2017, before relocating to Edinburgh in 2024, and this show is an appropriate testimony to the extraordinary dynamism of a region which is now justifiably receiving increased international attention, such as a recent long-running exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

Among the artists featured are senior artist Andy Leleisi’uao (Samoa/NZ) who brings to life the stories of his ancestral homeland through rich storytelling narratives. The beautiful Ngatu ‘uli (black tapa bark cloth) is the hallmark of NZ-based Tongan-born artist Kulimoe’anga ‘Stone’ Maka, which contrasts with the bristling vibrancy of a painting by young newcomer Sean Hill (Samoa/NZ). Linda Va’aelua (Samoa/Scotland) brings a touch of hand-made finesse with her hanging hessian paintings, and Dave Hill (Cook Islands) utilises found scrap wood to explore traditional mark making, while Niuen artist Marcus Hipa adds a touch of energetic lyricism with six drawings. Samoan artist Raymond Sagapolutele graces the show with a moving photographic diptych, DIASPRONAUT, which focuses on themes of memory, displacement, and heritage. And Sefton Rani, whose work is pictured, brings his Cook Islands heritage to the fore with his magnificent ‘painting without a frame’ Raumea and Te Uanuku.