Aotearoa New Zealand-born Samoan photographer Greg Semu is turning heads with his striking interpretation of the classic The Birth of Venus artwork, with a Pasifika twist.

The original work, painted by Italian Sandro Botticelli in the 1480s, featuring the iconic woman Venus stepping off a gilded clamshell onto the shores of the island of Cyprus, is being used to represent resilience, connection and healing of Pacific Islander people.

Semu partnered with C3West and Blacktown Arts and collaborated with the local Blacktown Pasifika communities and the Pacific Islands Mount Druitt Action Network (PIMDAN) in Western Sydney to recreate the painting in digital form using photography.

He replaced the original characters with people of Pacific heritage, including Miss Tonga Australia, who migrated from Tonga when she was aged nine.

A painting depicting a nude woman standing inside a clam shell, with a man and woman to her left and a woman to her right.

This involved engaging in conversations with Pasifika police, educators, social workers and others about issues within their communities, which is one reason the exhibition is called Lifting the Tapu [taboo].

"If you actually research the painting, you will discover that there are a lot of atrocities that are hidden in the painting, so that was a way of referencing the complexities and the challenges that the Western Sydney diaspora are suffering or dealing with," Semu said.

"Language, poverty, education, employment, domestic violence and suicide prevention are hot subjects that are really hurting."

Semu said the original painting was chosen because it had "permeated the psychology of the human race", which made it a great and well-known reference point to work from.

"When we talk about Western art, we actually have a name, we have a place and we have a date, and then we have their techniques and methodology," he said.

"But when you talk about Polynesian Pacific arts, we have ancestors, we have stories, dance, songs, and we have patterns, and the reference to that is 3,000-5,000 years.

"By adopting Western art, we have a physical reference point, to reference our ancestors and our cultural identity."

Semu said The Birth of Venus also represented "a lot of values that are also similar in the Pacific Island community", including the "virginity of innocence of a beautiful woman" and the sea.

It is one of a number of artworks and installations at a shopping precinct in Western Sydney.

Pacific migration

One of the themes highlighted in Semu's Lifting the Tapu exhibition is shining a light on the impact Pasifika people have had on Australia.

"It's [Venus in the clamshell] an obvious visual reference to the Pacific Island wave coming to Australia for migration," he said.

Freelance creative producer and co-curator Leo Tanoi, who is also an Aotearoa-born Samoan, said Australia was "built off the back of slaves in the blackbirding era".

"The relevance and the visibility of our people was because we were actually part of Australia's early background in terms of slavery that built this country," he said.

"Most people in Australia don't know about this history."

Semu said it was important Pacific Islander people were visible within Australia, especially since more migrants from the region were expected to move to Australia due to rising seas caused by climate change.

"It's an opportunity for the Pacific Islands community to contribute and to participate in this creation of what will Australia will be in the next 10 years, the next five years, and the next 20 years," he said.

As more migrants from the Pacific call Australia home, Mr Tanoi said changes needed to also occur at a political level to address inequalities, as shown during talks with the Blacktown Pasifika community throughout the course of the project.

"Having equality is something that needs to happen in terms of the trans-Tasman relationship," he said.

"They need to be stronger in terms of people coming over [on temporary work visas], because there's a lot of exploitation that's going on for our people in those particular areas."

A large number of people gathered for a photo under an installation of the re-imaging of The Birth of Venus artwork.

Who are we?

Mr Tanoi said increasing visibility "across all sectors", including the arts, was crucial for Pacific Islanders living in Australia because perceptions were mainly based on stereotypes and a lack of knowledge.

"We can't move forward without the masses, really knowing us, right?" he said.

"That's going take a lot of time to address and then, we're naturally up against — like every diverse community for some reason — prejudice and institutional racism.

"One of the most important things is that we need to, as Pacific Islanders across all the sectors, we need to do a lot of work to increase and to change the perception of people.

"What I'm told from our political scientists is that if we don't work towards that initial equality of them not understanding who we are, and only taking The Footy Show for cultural references, then we will always be a joke or be second grade.

"We'll just be footy players and nice people and Hula Hula dancers."

Semu hopes his art will enhance the visibility of Pacific Islanders within the community and away from just being "factory workers or sports players".

The Lifting the Tapu exhibition is open at Mount Druitt until the end of June.

This article was first published on Australia Broadcasting Corporation’s Pacific Wave.