Sione Monū

Sione Tuívailala Monū (born 1993 Auckland, New Zealand) is an Australian and New Zealand interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent notable for their use of beads and flowers.

Biography
Monū grew up around Australia, as their father's job was in the Australian Defence Force. Their mother is an avid collector of Tongan crafts, adornments and ngatu (bark cloth). As a child, Monū enjoyed experimenting with materials, "Flowers as a material and symbol have always been something I’ve responded to since I was a child." Monū was not taught how to make Tongan crafts in a traditional way, so they developed their own interpretations with materials they had at hand.

Monū lives between Canberra, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, and works across the different mediums of photography, moving-image, fashion and adornment, performance and drawing exploring identity, family and Pacific peoples' queer experience in the diaspora.

Monū has shown their work in many art galleries throughout New Zealand and Australia, including Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Auckland Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, Māngere Art Centre, and Bergman Gallery

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 2023 – The Way We Were, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2023 – Stories, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Matariki Fetu’u, Kaukau, Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Volver, Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle (with Manu Vaeatangitau), Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2021 – ’Ao Kakala Ōtautahi, SCAPE Public Art Season 2021, Christchurch, New Zealand
 * 2021 – Leitī, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia
 * 2020 – Kahoa Kakala, Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2017 – Kahoa Kakala, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions

 * 2023 – Tukufakaholo - Tongan Contemporary. Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023 – Queer Encounters, Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
 * 2023 – Pride and Prejudice… Part1, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023 – Oasis/respite, Studio One Toi Tū, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects, Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2022 – Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle, Māngere Art Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2020 – Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania 2020, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
 * 2016 – Social Matter, Blue Oyster, Dunedin, New Zealand