British Council New Zealand and the Pacific Director Natasha Beckman with Secretary of State for Scotland The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP.  ©

Image by Connor Duggan.

British Council New Zealand and the Pacific have curated Woven Histories, a special pop-up exhibition at Eden Park featuring two New Zealand-based artists who weave tartan into their traditional Pacific practices. Presented alongside the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which comes to Auckland for the first time on 19, 20 and 21 February, the exhibition is a celebration of enduring connections between the UK and New Zealand, where art becomes a living bridge between cultures. 

With support from British High Commission Wellington, the exhibition features the art of Alison Leauanae (Samoan and Pākehā heritage) and Mitchell Manuel (Cook Islands Māori and Scottish heritage). Leauanae's intricate hand-stitched works on paper draw on Pacific textile traditions while Manuel's bold digital art intertwines tartan patterns with koru motifs, creating a striking visual conversation between Highland and Polynesian heritage. Together, their works demonstrate how art finds common ground across cultures - literally and metaphorically intertwining heritage. 

Located in the World Cup Lounge at Eden Park, Woven Histories represents a unique meeting of arts, sport, heritage and innovation, celebrating the deep ancestral ties many New Zealanders share with Scotland. The Secretary of State for Scotland The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP visited the exhibtion during his visit to New Zealand.

About the Artists

Alison Leauanae is a multidisciplinary artist whose work investigates the complexity of human experience through cultural identity, diasporic memory and intergenerational knowledge. Of Samoan (Magiagi, Saleaula, Lano, Samata) and Pālagi (Pākehā/NZ European) heritage, she works primarily with hand-stitched cotton on paper. Her practice draws inspiration from traditional Pacific motifs and textile practices recontextualised within a contemporary framework.  Leauanae's paternal great grandfather William Messer migrated from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders to New Zealand in the early 1900s. Named by her paternal grandfather after his aunt and great grandmother, Leauanae carries her Scottish heritage through both name and creative practice, making the opportunity to present her Plaid Pua work alongside the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Eden Park a deeply meaningful celebration of her bicultural identity.  Alison appears courtesy of Bergman Gallery Auckland. 

Mitchell Manuel is a Wellington-based digital artist of Kuki Airani Māori and Scottish descent whose work explores the whakapapa (genealogical) and cultural connections between Māori and Scottish peoples. His work draws on the iconic visual symbolism of tartan and organic Polynesian motifs such as koru and tīvaivai. His practice employs tartan threads and clan colours, then integrates deconstructed koru - a fundamental Māori symbol representing an unfurling fern frond - into the tartan patterns. This creates a precise fusion where each element respects the integrity of both cultures, symbolising their historical and familial convergence. Manuel's inspiration stems from childhood summers in 1980s Māngere, witnessing pipe bands and marching teams at Māngere Domain, and from reconnecting with his Clan Brown ancestry - a family history shaped by the Scottish Clearances and the 1851 Emigration Advances Act that prompted his great-grandfather George Outher Brown's forebears to leave for Australia and the Pacific.

Woven Histories is on display during the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performances from 19–21 February in the World Cup Lounge at Eden Park Stadium, Auckland.  

 

 
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