My name is Vaimoana Litia Makakaufaki Niumeitolu but you can call me, Moana…

Moana gives much eternal appreciation to her parents, her familia, friends and comunidad all over the world for supporting her, encouraging her, and listening for the gold. She loves to eat with her hands, go barefoot absolutely anywhere in the world, her harmonica named Smoothie and Boxing & Beatboxing, both with a capital “B.” She loves that she is growing older. Life has just begun.

Moana is a Poet, Painter, Actor, Activist and Educator. She was born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga; raised in Hawa’ii and Utah; and now lives, creates and loves in NYC. She is the founder of Mahina Movement, the phenomenal all woman trio, that has performed all over the Nation at over 500 stages sharing mics with Dead Prez, Amina & Amira Baraka, Suheir Hammad, Sonia Sanchez and countless others. Moana has traveled and shared her poetry & painting all over the US and in Fiji, Tonga, Ireland, Italy, and South Africa. She has been seen acting at the Metropolitan Opera and sharing her one woman show, Tongue-in Paint, which had it’s world premiere last summer at Performance Space 122. She graduated from NYU, earned the Ellen Stoekel Fellowship, fulll scholarship from Yale University and attended Columbia University’s Graduate Program in Acting.

ARTIST STATEMENT
People’s daily lives of courage and strength inspires me and my art (my paintings, my poetry and my acting) is a reflection, pondering and sharing of that inspiration. I want my art to bring out the beauty and resilience of people’s lives that deal with circumstances–such as rape, disease, hunger, poverty, racism, drugs, incarceration, war and/or destitution.

I am interested in capturing the human spirit not only despite life’s challenges but capturing the human spirit IN life’s challenges. I am interested in presenting humanity in it’s truthful and natural presence.

Telling people’s stories in my paintings, my poetry, and my acting is important to me. My paintings, my poetry and my acting are meant to represent and tell stories/histories that may not have been told or are totally forgotten. My art is meant to raise a spotlight on those communities that are not easily visible in our society’s mainstream story telling and/or documented histories. My art is meant to share those stories that bring out the diversity, truth and humanity in our society and the world. My art is intended to connect us and show that we are all a part of a whole and what we do or not do impacts all of us.

ABOUT MAHINA MOVEMENT
Mahina Movement is the phenomenal 3 women trio who combine poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. Mahina Movement’s extraordinary melodies tell stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength and awareness of human struggle and connection. 3 voices and one guitar blend into a powerful force, mixing folk, rock and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement’s rare sound and vision not only creates a raw, fierce artistic “movement” combining traditional and contemporary poetry, music, painting, theater, and ritual but also, is constantly generating a strong, steady “movement” for community—consisting of radical love, unstoppable activism and ruthless compassion.