Thirteen Tongan New Zealand artists will showcase their artwork as part of the "Tonga ‘i Onopooni: Tonga Contemporary" art exhibition, the first to focus exclusively on the work of artists of Tongan heritage living in New Zealand.

The exhibition opens tomorrow Saturday April 16, at the City Gallery in Invercargill, and runs until 4 June.

The Southland Art Society website stated that the approaches and perspective of the artists vary widely but all reflect a distinctive visual language drawing on their Tongan heritage and New Zealand experience.

Artwork from Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, Kulimoe’anga Stone Maka and Dagmar Dyck have been inspired by traditional Tongan art forms, while the younger artists, such as Ane Tonga (artwork pictured above) who are of second and third generation New Zealanders, explore the realities of migration, adaption, identity and the ambivalence of home.

Opening tomorrow at 1:00pm, the exhibition celebrates the impact of these contemporary artists on the New Zealand visual arts scene through sculpture, painting, photography, video and installation.

Supported by the Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust and Creative New Zealand, the exhibition is developed and curated by art historian and curator, Nina Kinahoi Tonga, and the Pataka Art+Museum.