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Makerita Urale

Director

Makerita Urale grew up in her father's village in Samoa, before the family emigrated down under. She has gone on to bring a Pasifika voice to plays (the acclaimed Frangipani Perfume), museum exhibits, and documentaries. In 1995 Urale wrote Samoans-down under drama 'The Hibiscus' for TV's Tala Pasifika. Since then, the one time RNZ journalist has directed documentaries on Samoan tattooing (Savage Symbols), gangs (Gang Girls), and Kiwi activists (Qantas award-winner Children of the Revolution). In 2010 she joined Creative New Zealand, as an arts advisor on Pacific Arts.

Frangipani Perfume is an intoxicating blend of lush physical imagery and spare poetic language, as sensual and evocative as its title. Canadian writer Kathleen Oliver, in a review of Makerita Urale's play Frangipani Perfume, The Georgia Straight, 19 October 2006