Lana Lopesi, a Samoan writer, editor, art critic, and an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon, has been selected to be honored with the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her services to the arts. The honor will be bestowed on Dr. Lopesi at a ceremony in April.
“I’ve been committed to writing arts journalism celebrating and engaging critically with PaciUc art,” Dr. Lopesi said. “Pacific art is one area where there are a lot of people doing incredibly well in New Zealand, but it’s completely unwritten about and underexamined.”
Dr. Lopesi completed her doctorate in 2021 at Auckland University. Her thesis examined shifts in Pacific Islander art over time, studying how the digital age has shaped the themes reflected in art. She’s also served as an editor and writer for numerous New Zealand publications and initiatives, including the Pacific Arts Legacy Project, which is currently being turned into a book project to be released this fall by Penguin Random House.
In addition to continuing her research and writing a book, Dr. Lopesi is teaching classes in Pacific Islander studies. “For a lot of our students it’s the first time they’ve had a Pacific professor and been taught from a Pacific perspective,” she said. “That’s been really cool.”