Born in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Tongan artist John Vea works with sculpture, video and performance art. Before moving here to Ōtautahi, John has been lecturing at Auckland University of Technology teaching undergraduate papers in the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies – School of Art and Design. In 2021 John completed his practice led Ph.D. also at Auckland University of Technology.
In his academic research John has developed interests in how Pacific Artist practice operates in the context of Visual Arts/Fine Arts, and within hegemonic landscapes defining rules relating to labour and immigration policies. Performance art is another area John continues to examine, exploring how 2nd or 3rd generation Pacific creatives respond to space and politics from a limbo/liminal perspective and in relation to Tangata Whenua. John is also interested in the advancement of Pacific-oriented pedagogies and knowledge systems, such as Talanoa as a way of research. Other research interests may involve cross-disciplinary investigations, e.g. ‘Sociology of Race and Ethnic Relations’, ‘Migrant Cultural Studies’ and ‘Pacific Peoples Education’.
