SaVĀge K’lub d’Activation
SaVĀge K'lub Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled

SaVĀge K'lub: Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled, Opening Weekend Acti.VĀ.tions, 2024, The National Gallery of Australia. Photograph: Kerrie Brewer.
Free
Join SaVĀge K’lub members to mark the closing of the SaVĀge K’lub exhibition as they revive the ancestral narratives embedded within the remarkable artworks of the paepae.
All programs are free.
Audiences are invited to participate in the full program or join the activations throughout the weekend.
Bookings are required for all workshops as capacity is limited.
Content Advice
Please be advised that this exhibition includes some artworks with adult themes.
SAVĀGE K’LUB ACTI.VĀ.TORS
Sālvādor Brown. Image supplied.
Sālvādor Brown
Sālvādor Brown is an Aotearoa/New Zealand born Samoan/Tuvaluan, Gaelic, Norseman. He is the son of Rosanna Raymond and was raised in the Pasifika arts scene. He is a sound and visual practitioner, videographer and photographer, and uses his knowledge of Tāonga Pūoro in his practice. Brown is in the first phase of his research project Measina Logo - Treasured Sound, which looks at Samoan musical instruments and how they are connected across Moana nui a Kiwa/the Pacific Ocean. The artist recently showed his soundscape DigiTā VāSā at Tautai Pacific Arts Trust in the exhibition Moana Waiwai, Moana Pāti. Brown is working alongside dancer Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann on the relationship between sound and body through the story of Hine-ahu-one.
Brown was the Kaiwhakatangitangi (musician) for the opening of the Pacific Sisters: Fashion Activists exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery. He was the Acti.VA.tor for In*ter*is*land Collective in London for the Oceania exposition and at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris in 2019, and participated in the Inaugural London SaVĀge K'lub in 2011. Brown documented these events for the Queensland Art Gallery's 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in 2015.
Francesca Contaldo. Image provided by artist.
Francesca Contaldo
Francesca was born in Puglia, southern Italy, with her roots extending through the Mediterranean waters. After moving to Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2020, she was introduced to Moana Nui art and tattooing, sparking her fascination with the symbolism and rituals of body markings. This led her to research ancient tattoo practices of Puglia’s indigenous peoples documented in Greek and Roman records, ceramics, and stelae-carved stone monuments. While the purpose of these tattoos remains uncertain, depictions highlight women adorned with intricate hand and arm designs.
Feeling the responsibility to revive this tradition, Francesca has collaborated with academic researchers and is mentored by Tā Moko practitioner Mokonuiarangi Smith. Through tattoo, painting, and pottery, she reimagines her ancestors’ art, reconnecting with her heritage and honouring their memory as a bridge between past and present.
In 2022 she formed Stelae Marks and started her own mark making practice and has been exhibiting and selling works locally and globally. Highlights include the inclusion of her artwork in the SaVĀge K’lub exhibitions in the United Kingdom and Australia. She is currently based in West Auckland in her shared studio Ana Pekapeka or you can find her working alongside her mentor who resides at the Corbans Estate Art Centre.
“I hope to be a vessel for future generations to continue, connect, and respect those who came before us.”

Numangatini Mackenzie in SaVĀge K'lub: Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra 2024.
Numangatini Mackenzie
Numangatini (Numa) Fraser Mackenzie Mangaian (kuki airani) pakeha (English/Scottish) is a Canadian-born interdisciplinary artist who has been a hard core member of SaVAge K'lub for over 10 years.
Mackenzie’s art practice started in party/street culture in Canada, before he found his way to his Moana (Pacific) culture. The arts opened his gaze to his ancestors’ tools, practices, knowledge systems and mastering of their environment, inspiring him to deepen his connection through tatau (tattoo), deep sea voyaging, carving, and kava traditions.
More recently, Numa has been refining his skills in carving wood blocks for printing and subsequently running printing workshops. He is fed by the childlike joy of the participants and by creating access for moana communities to their traditional motifs.
His work connects him with moana communities willing to untether themselves from colonial ties to explore how ancestral values are relevant in modern life. Notably, Numa created the first international indigenous holiday 'Cook the Captain Day' to be celebrated by all wanting to promote Indigenous pride.

Rosanna Raymond MNZM, Image courtesy of the artist, Photographer: Rebecca Zephyr.
Rosanna Raymond
Sistar S’pacific, aka Rosanna Raymond, is an innovator of the contemporary Pasifika art scene, a long-standing member of the art collective the Pacific Sisters, and the founding member of the SaVĀge K’lub. Raymond has achieved international renown for her performances, installations, body adornment and spoken word. A published writer and poet, her works are held by museums and private collectors throughout the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In 2018 Raymond was awarded the CNZ Pacific Senior Artist acknowledging her contribution to the arts. Raymond is a former Chester Dale Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City and this year was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her services to Pacific Arts.

Ruth Woodbury. Image provided by artist.
Ruth Woodbury
Descendant of Te Hikutu, Ngatī Korokoro, Te Pouka, Ngatī Wharara / Guang Zhou / First Fleet Location: South Hokianga
Ruth’s passion is inter-generational transfer of knowledge and activation of our cultural practices through cultivation of relationships and fabrication of our environmental resources. Her artistic expression threads through curating and exhibiting, education facilitation and practice of visual arts with her foundations in Māori traditional weaving, i raro i te maru o Te Whare Pora. As a living ancestor Ruth arrives whole in her genealogical vessel no matter where she stands and actively encourages those around her to self-determine their unique identity.
Ruth has recently exhibited works with the arts collective Pacific Sisters in Melbourne at the ACMI and Bunjil Place [2024] also leading the collective as their Creative Producer for these engagements. Her solo showing of Whiria: Ngā Manu Rere at the New Zealand Maritime Museum in 2022 featured a collection of moving images, soundscapes and object works of tuturu Māori Manu Rere nō Hokianga, traditionally made kites, including Manu Aute, with legacy in the Hokianga region of Aotearoa.
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