Art Forum: Benjamin Akuila in conversation with Dr Yolunda Hickman

(RE)Connections Across Moana 
Benjamin Akuila in conversation with Dr. Yolunda Hickman 

After receiving the Lift Off award after completing their MFA in 2024, Akuila shares their research and response project, (RE)Connections Across Moana. This project took place across Aotearoa and regional New South Wales, with primary research in Tamaki Makaurau and studio response in Monkit studios, Braidwood, NSW. In conversation with Dr. Yolunda Hickman, this talk examines the intentions, timeline, and outcomes of this project, and highlights the importance of connecting with community as a practicing artist. 

Benjamin Akuila (b.2000) is a multidisciplinary artist of Tongan and Irish descent living and working between Gadigal and Dharug country. Akuila’s work explores ideas of cultural authenticity, and identity performances within the Tongan-Australian diaspora through ​‘Nū Materialities’. Through investigating societal constructs of history, identity, and gender, Akuila utilises humour and heliaki (allusion) with the intention of subverting these agreed notions. Akuila’s work reinterprets koloa (Tongan artmaking) and applies these practices to contemporary materials to explore personal and shared narratives of being.

Dr Yolunda Hickman works in the wider fields of painting and drawing, aiming to test the potential of images and communication systems. Yolunda teaches across the postgraduate programs at National Art School and completed her doctorate at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2020.

Image: Benjamin Akuila, Hearings, 2025, earphones and raffia.
Courtesy the artist.