Film Premiere: We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens!
Join us at Te Papa for the premiere screening of We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens!, a series of short films, celebrating the mana of Pasifika women’s flower culture.
Wed 28 Jan 2026, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Soundings Theatre, Level 2
Free event
The ‘dusky maiden’ is a stereotype of a sun-kissed, exotic ‘South Seas’ Pacific woman adorned with flowers, and dressed provocatively to entice the European male gaze.
In each of the short films, we invited women from Niue, Sāmoa, Tonga, and the Cook Islands to speak back to the dusky maiden trope.
They share personal stories of their powerful connections to their home islands, the tropical flowers that continue to inspire them, along with their reactions to taonga in Te Papa’s collections.
Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the women who shared their stories in We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens!
We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens! Back: Taeaolelei Filo-Masoe, Phylesha Brown-Acton, Fabiefara Filo-Masoe. Middle: Milika Losalia Pusiaki, Kate Ngatokorua, Mata Atonio. Front: Miracle Filo-Masoe, Sosefina Filo-Masoe. Photo by Te Papa