Lola

Lola is my mother, someone whom I have lived away from for the last 40 years. Idealizing her as a young woman before she married my older New Zealand born father preserves this vital time of her life. She was born and raised in Samoa. English language and culture provided the foundation of her Christian education which enabled her to integrate into New Zealand culture as a young immigrant woman in the early 1950’s. She spent the first nine years of her marriage in the Fiji Islands where I was born, then returned to New Zealand with her family of three girls at that time. Her Polynesian roots were important as she worked on traditional Pandanus weaving, creating wonderful mats and baskets. She was also a dressmaker, fashioning childhood clothes for her daughters, and was skillful at tatting, knitting and crochet. I like to believe these legacies are integral to my interest in fibre and textile arts.