Ema Tavola is an independent artist-curator based in South Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Tavola’s curatorial concerns are grounded in the opportunities for contemporary art to engage grassroots audiences, shift representational politics and archive the Pacific diaspora experience. Having worked on curatorial and engagement projects for galleries and museums throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, Tavola is committed to curating as a mechanism for social inclusion, centralising Pacific ways of seeing and exhibition making as a mode of decolonisation. Tavola opened her independent gallery, Vunilagi Vou in 2019 in Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland. Responding to the uncertainty of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Vunilagi Vou shapeshifted throughout 2020-2021 before re-emerging in its original form as a gallery, art retail and consultancy space in 2022.
Tavola is a proud Fijian from the island of Dravuni, Kadavu. She holds a Master of Arts Management and Bachelor of Visual Arts but credits her most critical and ongoing education as the act of motherhood.
Camp Boom 