Following her participation in the Glasgow International x British Council International Delegates Programme, Ane Tonga shares her reflections on the experience: the connections she made, the moments that stayed with her, and how the visit has shaped her thinking as Curator, Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Read on to hear about her time in Glasgow, in her own words.
What drew you to apply for the Glasgow International Delegates Programme?
The Glasgow International Delegates Programme is nomination-based but it was actually a talanoa with Natasha Beckman, Director British Council New Zealand and Pacific, that gave me the confidence to put my name forward.
What were you hoping to get out of it?
I’ve been looking to further develop international relationships and engage more actively in global conversations around Pacific art and curatorial practice. I already see Pacific art as inherently international and have been in conversation with curators and institutions in Australia, France, and elsewhere who are deeply interested in the work we are doing and the artists we support here. So, when the opportunity to participate in GI came through, it prompted me to push my global remit a little wider. The Delegates Programme provided space to build meaningful connections, exchange ideas, and relationships. The experience exceeded all expectations. It was truly life changing.
Was there a moment, conversation or piece of work during the visit that's stayed with you?
“Welcome, you’re the first Tongans to come here.” This is the first thing Dr. Andy Mills, Curator for Archeology and World Cultures said when he welcomed Ruha Fifita (Australian delegate; Research Assistant, Pacific at QAGOMA) and I to the Pacific Collection. The Hunterian holds some of the earliest examples of Pacific tapa, as part of their founding collection and the exploratory voyages of Captain Cook (1728–1779). It was confronting to be reminded of the fact that the majority of Pacific material culture is held in institutions in Europe. Coming into close contact with these exceptional taonga from across the Pacific was overwhelming yet comforting. It set the tone for the remainder of the trip which was filled with so many awe-inspiring moments, conversations and art.
The programme is designed to build connections between curators and organisers around the world. Has it opened up any ideas for future collaboration, or changed how you think about your own practice?
The programme affirmed my own positionality as a Pacific woman while expanding my understanding of how Pacific concerns and urgencies resonate across different contexts. I was reminded that many of these issues are deeply interconnected, from the climate crisis to the ongoing genocide in West Papua. This became particularly clear through studio visits with artists Tahliah Simumba, Zoë Zo/ Zoë Tumika /Zoë Guthrie and Albert Whittle, whose practices engaged questions of identity, history and belonging in ways that felt both distinct and deeply connected to conversations taking place across Te Moana Nui-a-Kiwa.
It also shifted how I think about the possibilities for international collaboration. Before attending GI, Scotland felt like a rare place for Pacific talanoa, yet Glasgow International demonstrated how these conversations can unfold in unexpected places. A key example is Jasmine Togo-Brisby's solo exhibition at GoMA titled Liquid Land. Exploring the legacy of blackbirding through her family's connection, the work took on added resonance in GoMA, formerly Cunningham House, whose wealth was built through the sugar and tobacco trades. It revealed the ways Pacific and Scottish histories are deeply entangled through global systems of extraction, trade and empire.
As the first and only curator dedicated to Pacific art at Auckland Art Gallery, how did being in Glasgow, engaging with Scotland-based and international peers, feed back into how you think about that role?
Because the role is still relatively new, and still the only in the country, part of my role is developing new ways of working that will shape Pacific art at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery over the long term. Being in Glasgow reinforced the importance of thinking about Pacific art within an international curatorial context, rather than solely a New Zealand one. Engaging with Scotland-based and international peers gave me new perspectives on curatorial frameworks, organisational structures, and commissioning models that differ from those I've encountered through initiatives such as the Asia Pacific Triennial and Honolulu Triennial.
Those insights will inform how I approach future commissioning and strategic development at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery, while strengthening my ambition to position Pacific art as part of global contemporary conversations.
Glasgow International's 2026 programme leans into themes like ancestral memory, intergenerational kinship and cross-cultural resonance. Did those threads connect with your own work around Indigenous photographic histories and Pacific feminisms?
Honestly, when I read the themes for the biennial, I felt like I was speaking to them across oceans. The programmes focus on ancestral memory, intergenerational kinship and cultural continuity connects with many of the exhibitions I've worked on and feels like the kind of biennial I would make.
From the beginning of my tenure, exhibitions such as Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle by Tongan leitī artists Sione Monū and Manuha'apai Vaeatangitau explored kinship not simply as family connection but as a living practice of community, survival and self-determination.
What struck me about the Glasgow International programme was seeing those concerns echoed in a different context. The specifics may differ, but the underlying questions feel remarkably aligned: how histories are carried forward, how communities sustain one another, and how art can create space for stories that have been overlooked or marginalised.