Auckland Museum has announced Benjamin Work as the 2025 Matafatafa Aho Pacific Artist in Residence.
Of Tongan and Scottish heritage, Benjamin is an artist based in Auckland. His practice draws from Tongan cultural history, Indigenous mark-making, and visual language systems. His work spans painting, installation, and large-scale mural, often exploring themes of identity, narrative, and cultural memory.
Work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is known for his exploration at the intersection of Faka-Tonga (Tongan way) and Faka-Pālangi (European way) in contemporary art spaces.
His residency began this month, and he will spend the next three months working within the Museum’s Documentary Heritage collections to produce a new artwork.
The collections are described as diverse in both format and time-period, consisting of manuscript, ephemera, oral history, photographic and works on paper from the 18th century to today.
This residency is not just about art; it’s a powerful platform for collaboration, innovation, and the vibrant expression of identity, ancestry and culture.
Matafatafa Aho Pacific Artist Residencies are supported by Creative NZ.
