item details
Overview
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries T-shirtsare a most accessible and widely worn form of clothing. They may appear to be ordinary everyday garments, seemingly insignificant in the regions material culture. However, T- shirts and the images on them often lay claim to culture, imagination, history and places. They were an inexpensive and mass-produced form of clothing often used by artists like a canvas, to promote their causes, ideas and identities.
Significance
This T-shirt was made by artist Siliga David Setoga of POPOHARDWEAR, a clothing company based in Auckland, New Zealand. This T-shirt featuring a stylised image of a sunset with silhouettes of two coconut trees. This scene is underwritten with the word "Palagi" which has the contemporary popular translation of "European" in the Samoan language.
Setoga has played with other historical icons, moments, and cultural stereotypes in his long established range of t-shirts. By reworking these subjects in often humorous ways, Setoga turns them into statements of pride and identity.
Acquisition history
Setoga is of Samoan descent. His t-shirts and installation art has been exhibited widely in art galleries and museums. This t-shirt is one of three purchased from him in 2011.