La Familiar - Shiloh Sagapolu

La Familiar is an exhibition about the visceral culture of sound in Aotearoa and the social experiences that form around it. It pays homage to siren culture, AFTLOS (All For The Love Of Sounds), bass culture, parades, siren battles, and the unofficial social spaces that gather around loud sound. These cultures are built on participation and take place in car parks, city streets, night markets, industrial areas and parades. What may seem obnoxious from the outside is deeply familiar to participants: a place to meet, compete, dance, drink, laugh, show off and make memories.

The exhibition is framed as a shrine to an upbringing, reflecting family events where kids come along to watch and join in, and where people compete for bragging rights over the loudest car or best parade. These gatherings break several laws and almost always draw a heavy police presence, at times understandably so. The culture also lives online, with livestreams connecting people across Aotearoa through sound. Rather than asking viewers to consider the inconvenience to their ears, La Familiar invites them to think about the moving vehicle of sound itself and its role in shaping these events.