Raymond Sagapolutele

Raymond Eddie Sagapolutele (born 1971) is a New Zealand photographer and visual artist of Samoan descent, active as a photographer since 2003.

Sagapolutele was born in the South Auckland suburb of Ōtāhuhu in 1971, with ancestral ties to the villages of Fatuvalu in Savai’i and Saluafata in Upolu, Sāmoa.

His early years were spent in Invercargill and Waikato, before the family returned to live in Manurewa in 1980.

From 2003, he worked as a staff photographer for the publications Back to Basics and Rip It Up, as well as regular submissions to The New Zealand Herald and Metro magazine.

Over the past decade, Raymond has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout Auckland, and is also a proud member of the respected graffiti collective, TMD.

Sagapolutele is a talented artist and founding member of the ManaRewa art collective, which is based at Nathan Homestead in Manurewa.

As a senior member, he actively tutors and supports the local arts community..

His dedication to his craft is reflected in his academic achievements; Sagapolutele completed his Masters in Visual Arts with first-class honours and received the Deans Award for Excellence in Postgraduate study from Auckland University of Technology.

This led to years of editorial photography work for Raymond, including a project in 2012 where he photographed his mother and sister, both of whom were dancers.

This sparked the project, called Out Of Context, inviting the Pacific community to be photographed in their day-to-day lives, capturing their unique personalities and styles.

Through this project, Raymond created a "star map" of contemporary Pacific people, showcasing the diversity and beauty of the community he belongs to.

Sagapolutele uses skulls as a representation of ancestors from a Samoan perspective, and seeks to challenge western perceptions of skulls.

He wants to educate people about how Samoans view the skeletal remains of love ones, as for Pacific people, they are respected and dealt with in different ways by various cultures.

The use of skulls is an important part of Sagapolutele's practice.

Raymond's exploration of the blackness and the nothingness in his photography, drawing on Pacific scholars like Albert Wendt, is a testament to his unique perspective and dedication to his craft.

His Masters in Photography from AUT in 2018 allowed him to expand his work and interpretation, and showcase his understanding of the complexities of post-colonial identity.

By using the camera as his visual language, Sagapolutele creates works that connect to the Samoan tradition of Fāgogo, or storytelling, and give voice to his unique perspective as a Pacific artist.

He is currently a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, where he has been teaching since 2020.

For Sagapolutele, the camera has become an important part of his practice as a Samoan-born New Zealander to reconnect his art to his Samoan heritage and the history of the Pacific.

Raymond found a passion for it when he took a photo of his brother's hip-hop group, the Deceptikonz, which was published in Rip it Up magazine.