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• Tui Emma Gillies, Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows, and Aroha Heilala Gillies will host Tongan tapa workshops in California.
• They aim to help participants reconnect with their cultural roots through “healing heritage arts”.
• Funding is being raised for the trip, with Creative New Zealand matching contributions up to $3000.

Three generations of an artistic Auckland family are on a mission: to take some Polynesian love to the people of America.

Tui Emma Gillies, her mother Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows, and Gillies' 11-year-old daughter Aroha Heilala Gillies are heading to California to host Tongan tapa cloth decorating workshops, what Tui describes as their “healing heritage arts”.

“We know they’re going through some big changes over in America and they could do with some of the artistic medicine that comes from New Zealand and the Islands,” Gillies said.

“We’re keen to share with them where we come from, through our tapa art, to help them reconnect with where they come from. We see it happen often in our workshops.

“By creating their own piece of tapa art, people become interested in their own roots, their own cultural background, whether they’re from a Polynesian background, or any other type of background.”

This is not the first time Gillies has been invited overseas to showcase her tapa work.

The Rock's mum Ata and Auckland artist Tui Gillies. Photo / Supplied

In July last year, she was invited to Taiwan for a 30-day residency at Village Studio.

She also created a tapa cloth for US actor and Samoan-born star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

On the trio’s trip to the US, they are booked to do workshops at the California State University in Los Angeles, including the opening event at the Asia, American Native, Hawaiian and Pacific Island Heritage Month.

They’ll also present on their Tongan tapa art practice at a one-day symposium and visit classes there.

They’ll then be doing a workshop at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in Long Beach, a city which is now home to many Tongans and other Polynesians.

But due to recent funding cuts in America, California State University is only able to assist with funding equivalent to their airfares.

Gillies has formed a fundraising collaboration with Boosted x Moana on its website, and Creative New Zealand will contribute dollar-for-dollar, up to $3000.

“There’s no profit in it for us,” Gillies said.

“We have to raise funds to get over there. But the idea, of taking a bit of Pacific love to the USA right now, is irresistible.

“The Government has been telling global representatives at its infrastructure conference in Auckland that our country can offer the world stability during these uncertain geopolitical times. I would add love and healing to that equation. And like any good old-school doctor, we’re willing to make a house call, we’ll take the medicine to them where they live, in America.

“We just want to show, that some of the traditions we have down here, offer another way of looking at the world, and that collaboration could be the key word, not tariffs.”

If anyone would like to help support the trio, click on to their.