Samoan artist Fatu Feu'u's unique painting designs will be available on a limited edition of glasses from Specsavers to ultimately help people in the Pacific. Photo / Supplied
Samoan artist Fatu Feu'u's unique painting designs will be available on a limited edition of glasses from Specsavers to ultimately help people in the Pacific. Photo / Supplied
His large, colourful and abstract paintings showcasing Pasifika - through his eyes - usually hang from the walls of art galleries, schools and buildings.
Now the artwork of respected Samoan-Kiwi artist Fatu Feu'u will be available on arguably his smallest canvas yet - on a limited edition of eye glasses.
Feu'u has long been a celebrated artist in New Zealand, Samoa and the wider Pacific region for many years; having exhibited his distinctive work - including paintings and sculptures - for close to 40 years.
He has now teamed up with optometry company Specsavers to bring a little of the Pacific to its eyewear - and all for a good cause.
A limited edition of eye glasses will feature the designs from one of Feu'u's paintings - Tagaloa's Dream. It is a part of his Pacific Ocean series of works that highlight the ongoing need to protect the Pacific Ocean and namely the Kermadec Trench.
For every pair of glasses sold, $25 from the sale will go towards the Fred Hollows Foundation - a charity founded by NZ-born eye surgeon Professor Fred Hollows and wife Gabi, in 1992, in a bid to restore sight to the needlessly blind.
Samoan artist Fatu Feu'u. Photo / Supplied
Over the years, the Foundation has set up eye clinics around the Pacific region and provide eye care services to locals in Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
Preventable blindness is a big issue in the Pacific; where eye care services were previously limited or non-existent; with people told they needed to travel to New Zealand or Australia for treatments - including cataract surgery - that were otherwise the norm in Western countries.
In the Pacific, nine out of 10 people who are blind could have been prevented, Fred Hollows statistics show.
Other factors meant villagers needing eye treatment simply could not afford the bus ticket or had access to a vehicle to travel into town areas for help.
"My greatest tool is art," Feu'u says.
"So to use it to bring awareness to causes I care about means a lot to me."
Artist Fatu Feu'u's unique painting design will be available for a limited time. Photo / Supplied
This is the second time the artist will collaborate with Specsavers to help raise funds for the Fred Hollows Foundation - one of a number of causes he believes in.
"It can be hard for one person to feel like they're creating change."
By doing this, however, he is able to spread the word about issues impacting the community - including highlighting eye health issues in the Pacific and the need to protect the Pacific Ocean, he said.
Fred Hollows Foundation NZ spokeswoman Jo Dowling said the funds raised would specifically go towards eye health projects in Samoa to help end avoidable blindness.
