(Picture caption: Rosie Roache’s exhibit Brown Skin Girls celebrates Pacific beauty.)
University of Otago film and theatre student Rosie Roache says she wants Pacific beauty to be celebrated and immortalised in this year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival.
A recipient of the Creative New Zealand (CNZ) Fringe Festival Pacific Grant, Rosie recently showcased her photography at the Fringe Festival for the second consecutive year.
Of Rotuman and Samoan heritage, Rosie’s interactive photography exhibit Brown Skin Girls captured Pacific complexions, beauty and movement against the backdrop of Ōtepoti.
Rosie's photography exhibition came to life with her Samoan, Tongan and I-Kiribati muses dancing alongside their prints at her exhibit's closing reception.
“Polynesian women are very good at dancing and there is such beauty in the dances that we come up with,” Rosie says.
Rosie explains she was inspired for her project after attending the CNZ conference last year, where she was in a room full of artistic and talented women.
“It’s about how organic those relationships are, and how easy it is for brown girls to get together and start chatting like we’ve known each other forever but really, we’ve just met.”
Capturing the beauty of candid images is her specialty, she says.
“I look like a weirdo flashing photos with the camera, but the results are photos of people in the moment, dancing, singing, being silly.”
Food was a key element of her Fringe Festival exhibit, she adds.
“You’re going to be well fed at a Pacific event - food is what brings us together.
“I wanted people from my theatre community to get a little taste of the love that us Polynesians can give around food.”
Rosie hopes to one day turn her exhibit into a performing arts showcase, featuring an all-brown cast from all corners of the earth to reflect the diverse cultures she grew up with in Manurewa, South Auckland.