Fred Butafa

Frederick Butafa, Solomon Islands, is from Malaita, although he was born in the capital, Honiara, on Guadalcanal Island.

He studied law at the University of the South Pacific's Laucala Campus in Fiji, and at the University's School of Law in Vanuatu.

While in Fiji, he entered the Oceania Centre's visual art programme as its first trainee artist. Upon graduation, Fred went to live in Perth, Western Australia, where he now practices law.

He maintained his membership of the Red Wave Collective, and he has spent short periods at the Oceania Centre.

Fred Butafa


EXHIBITIONS

First Red Wave exhibition Oceania Centre for Art and Culture, 1997.
Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture Emalus Campus, Port Vila Vanuatu.
Solomon Islands National Art Gallery (Raindrops Exhibition), 1998.
Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, Emalus Campus, Vanuatu, 1999.
Red Wave Collective, James Harvey Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2000.
Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, Gallery 247, Perth, Australia, 2001.
ArtHouse Gallery, Perth, Australia, 2002.
Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, 2003.
Empire Perth, Linton and Kay Gallery, Perth, Australia, 2004.
Linton and Kay Gallery, Perth, Australia, 2005.


Artist in Resident at the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, University of the South Pacific, Fiji:

1997-8 Nov - Jan.
1998 Jun - July.
1999 Jun - July.
2001 Jun - July.
2002 Oct - November.


Illustrations by Frederick Butafa for Raindrops poems by Celo Kulaghoe.


The 'Red Wave Collective'.


The Red Wave Collective is the most prominent group of artists to have emerged
from the Centre for Oceania Arts and Cultures at the University of South Pacific in Fiji.

Founded in 1997 by Epeli Hau·ofa, the Oceania Centre set out to provide an autonomous
space in which artists and practitioners could evolve and explore new methods of creativity
that both drew knowingly from local traditions and shaped fresh boundaries and visions.

Since the beginning, the Centre has become a magnet for creativity in the area, bringing
together artists from across the widely diverse Oceania region, and leading to a flourishing contemporary visual and performing arts movement firmly rooted in both historical visual
traditions and the changing international environment.