SIONE TUÍVAILALA MONŪ (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist of Tongan descent. Monū was born in Tamaki and grew up across Australia as their father was part of the Australian defence force. Their mother is a Tongan cultural knowledge holder and avid collector of Tongan crafts, adornments and ngatu (bark cloth). As a child, Monū enjoyed experimenting with materials mimicking cultural adornments having watched family in Australia making traditional adornments with non-traditional diasporic materials like beads, Monū developed early their own interpretations of the craft. 

No longer considering their current practice “traditional”, Monū deems their works modern iterations of their heritage based on their present-day reality. Each work depicts a symbol of self: self in community, self in love, self in relation to family, and self-referential humour. Traditional methods blend diaspora in-jokes and personal omens. There are callouts to Monū’s queer Pacific creative collectives and friendships and often derided elements of Pacific identity and aesthetic articulating core parts of Monū’s identity.

Monu has shown their work nationally and internationally. including National Portrait Gallery Canberra, Artspace Sydney, Artspace Aotearoa, Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, Contemporary Jewelled Art Gallery & Museum Cagnes-sur-Mer France, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Christchurch Art Gallery, Māngere Art Centre,  Robert Heald Gallery and Bergman Gallery. Monu has art held in numerous public collections including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, Auckland libraries Archives and various private collections throughout New Zealand and abroad. Additionally Sione has been featured in publications such as Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana Oceania 2019, Landfall Journal May 2022, PACIFIC ARTS APTEAROA  2023, and Sio FakaTonga ‘ae ‘Aati FakaTonga - Tongan Views of Tongan Arts 2025.