Evotia is a professional photographer based in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Of Samoan descent, she started her photographic journey by documenting the Pacific Island people and its culture in New Zealand then in the South Pacific.
With a background in news, wedding, portrait, documentary and event photography, she has honed her skills over 20 years to become a successful commercial photographer.
In 1999 she was named in the Top 100 Pacific Island Achievers in NZ where she appeared at number 59 - one under the legendary All Black, Jonah Lomu.
Evotia has exhibited her photographs of Pacific Island culture in NZ, Australia, Samoa and England in both public and private galleries.
In 2016 she was as awarded the Creative New Zealand / National University of Samoa artist-in-residence which had her based in Samoa for three months working on a documentary photo essay of her village Salelesi. The outcome of this residence was having her first solo exhibition in Samoa in November 2016.
In 2007 Evotia co-founded Little Island Press with Tony Murrow, a specialist South Pacific community-focused publisher. After 10.5 years in business, she left the company in 2018 to return to photography full time.
Evotia is currently working towards a photography book titled Salelesi: A Village in Samoa. A touring exhibition is planned alongside the book launch in Samoa, NZ, Australia and Hawaii.
Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
All images copyright Evotia Tamua 2023