Juliette PITA

Juliette Pita is the first internationally recognized Ni-Vanuatu female painter. She paints not only on canvas but also on “tapas”, a vegetal fiber made from the bark of a tree.

Juliette Pita was born in Erromango, a small island in the south of the Vanuatu archipelago, in 1964. His father is the tribal chief of the South West of the island.

At a very early age, she left her island to go to primary school in Tanna and then to high school in Port-Vila. Not very gifted in studies, her talent in drawing led her to follow a professional courses for design and sculpture in the technical high school. It is then that she learns tapestry, which will remain her artistic guideline. She finished her studies in 1980, at the same time as the country gained independence. Supported by one of her former teachers, she made her first exhibition of her tapestries in 1983. She still remembers this first excitement of her work..

In 1987, she joined Nawita (the association of Vanuatu artists) and participated in several exhibitions at the cultural center of the French Embassy in Port-Vila. The year 1994 represents a a major leap in her international career as an artist. According to her will, Juliette realizes her dream by exhibiting in France with Emmanuel Watt for the 2nd Francophonie games. In 1995, with the Nawita association she exposed in Australia. Then it was New Caledonia in 1997 as part of the Biennale of Contemporary Art.

In 2000, all the artists of Erromango gathered at Port Villa's cultural center. A few months later, the Alliance Française organizes a new exhibition of Juliette and her brothers. In 2001, one of her tapestries was chosen to represent Vanuatu in an artists' book entitled “Women of the world”. Since 2004, several exhibitions of the Nawita association have given her the opportunity to expose her works at the Tjibaou center in New Caledonia.

Recently, Juliette joined a group of women living on the seashores. Her drawings on canvas and tapa are thus permanently accessible to the public.

She is also a member of the ACTIV Association.

Biography taken from: https://vanuatu2007.wordpress.com/arts-et-culture/attachment/25/