Seasonal Agreement: Artist Talk
John Vea, Chris Ulutupu
Join John Vea, in conversation with Chris Ulutupu as he discusses his exhibition Seasonal Agreement in this dynamic artist talk.
Ōtautahi-based artist John Vea (Tonga, Aotearoa New Zealand) explores the complexities facing migrant workers working in Aotearoa in an exhibition at Refinery ArtSpace.
Every year, Te Tauihu becomes a temporary home to migrant workers from across Moana Oceania. Seasonal workers are part of our everyday landscapes but remain mostly hidden or unrecognised. Ōtautahi Christchurch-based artist John Vea (Tonga, Aotearoa New Zealand) explores the complexities facing migrant workers adapt to the hegemonic laws of working in Aotearoa whilst building a sense of belonging after leaving home.
Vea uses his characteristic sense of humour to point to the bureaucratic challenges and barriers migrant must navigate to make a living in Aotearoa – often with a tight timeline, and with the harsh realities of hard labour and acclimatising to a drastically different environment while maintaining a sense of self and caring for those left behind at home.
Check out Seasonal Agreement here: https://nelsonartsfestival.nz/event/seasonal-agreement/
John Vea
Born in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Tongan artist John Vea works with sculpture, video and performance art. John’s art practice operates in the context of a Pacific perspective and reacting to hegemonic landscapes defining rules relating to labour and immigration policies.
Performance art is an area John continues to explore responding to space and politics from a limbo/liminal perspective and in relation to Tangata Whenua. Before recently moving to Ōtautahi, John has been lecturing at Auckland University of Technology teaching in the School of Art and Design. In 2021 John completed his practice led Ph.D. also at Auckland University of Technology.
Christopher Ulutupu
Christopher Ulutupu is a contemporary artist of Samoan and Niuean descent, born in 1987 and currently residing in Whakatū, Nelson. Using conventions of cinematic storytelling, performance, and installation, Ulutupu’s dynamic practice often interrogates themes of identity, diaspora, and cultural hybridity. Informed by his Pacific heritage and the complexities of navigating multiple cultural landscapes, Ulutupu’s work provides a unique view of current-day Aotearoa, and celebrates dreaming and artistic expression as tools for decolonisation.
Ulutupu holds an MFA at Massey University and a Bachelor of Performance Design (Hons) from Massey University and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. Ulutupu’s work is held in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Dunedin Public Art Gallery, The Suter Art Gallery and Sarjeant Gallery (Whanganui). Ulutupu has exhibited widely across Aotearoa, Europe, Australia, East and Southeast Asia, the and UK (as well as exhibitions in Ireland, 2024 and Toronto, 2021).
Ulutupu has also participated in extensive artist residencies at Sarjeant Gallery (Whanganui), Dunedin Public Art Gallery, University of Canterbury, Circuit Artist Moving Image Tangata Moana Fellowship in the UK, Video Tautai Contemporary Arts Gallery , Artist 2021 Fale Ship and 2025 Crossing Borders Award , and was selected for the 2020 Leipzig International Art Programme (disrupted by covid 19).
In 2025, Ulutupu travelled to Vietnam to exhibit in Hanoi, an arts exchange to commemorate fifty years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Aotearoa.
Outside of his artistic practice, Ulutupu works within arts advisory and advocacy spaces, with recent roles at Arts Council Nelson and Arts Access Aotearoa.
Refinery ArtSpace
Artist Talk Sat 25 Oct | 12pm