About - Fetū Studio

MARYANN TALIA PAU

Weaver. Artist.

Community builder.

Sāmoan-Australian · Based on Quandamooka Country, Brisbane

2010 | NGV. Permanent Collection
2018 | One Million Stars Installation
2022 | Web Design Certification

Where it started

Mālo lava, I’m Maryann. I have been weaving for more than a decade. It began as something I did with my hands to make sense of things my words couldn’t reach. First, it was breastplates — repurposed from my family’s old mats, carrying an energy of armour, protection and generations of women teaching each other by doing.

What I believe

Weaving is one of the most powerful ways women carry culture, connection, and wellbeing forward. In Pacific communities, weaving is not simply craft — it is ceremony. Weaving gives us reason to gather, a wellbeing that’s activated in the moment, a space for stories, talanoa and knowledge to breathe. This is how women have held each other for centuries.

The turning point

In 2012, that weaving became something bigger: One Million Stars to End Violence was born, now One Billion Stars. I taught people how to weave an eight-pointed star as a symbol of hope, solidarity — a stand against violence in all its forms. It grew into a movement across 15+ countries with millions of stars woven by the hands of over 200 communities.

The honest bit

Burnout, midlife, figuring out who I was outside of the projects I’d built — it all caught up with me. This chapter is the rebuild. I’m weaving again, writing again, and — a little unexpectedly — building websites to help people tell their story online. Fetū Studio is where that practice lives now — in weaving, in writing, and in the websites I design for people doing work that matters.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF PRACTICE

The work, in images.

CAREER & CREATIVE PRACTICE

A life woven

across many threads.

From the first woven breastplate at Craft Victoria to a global community movement, a web design certification, and frontline community work — these are the threads that make up my practice.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & MAJOR WORKS:

2026 WONDER WAGON – A SHARED SKY. Moreton Bay City Council. Woven Public Art and Welcome Mats community project for Kite Festival and Pasifika Vibes Festival Brisbane. Exploring ideas of welcoming others, being inclusive and actively creating a shared safe space.
2021 VAKA TO A BILLION STARS. Silo Park. Matariki, Māori New Year. Tamaki Makaurau Auckland NZ. Installation of 300,000 woven stars.
2019-2020 ISLAND FASHION. Group exhibition. Ula Taim children’s activity. Collaboration with PNG/Australian artist Ranu James.
2019 HOLDING SPACE – A FIERCE HOPE. Group exhibition. Adderton House Sisters of Mercy. Collaboration with PNG/Australian artist Ranu James. Exploring Pasifika ideas of death & grief.
2018 WOMEN OF COLOUR. IWD 2018. Exhibition. Star Weaver Portrait by Tamara Armstrong.
2018 ONE MILLION STARS. Major public art installation. King George Square, Brisbane. 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Cultural Program. Additional star installations at Gold Coast Athlete’s Village, Cairns and Townsville Australia.
2016 Sa’VĀge K’LUB. Group exhibition & Activation. Asia Pacific Triennial (APT8). Collaboration with Lisa Fa’alafi. QAGOMA Brisbane Australia.
2015 MYER. International Women’s Day. Installations throughout Melbourne City Myer store.
2014 G20 CULTURAL PROGRAM. Installation of 2,000 woven stars & public workshops. Queen St Mall Brisbane. Australia.
2013. STITCHING TIME. Interstellar exchange. Collaboration with Dell Stewart and WhyKate. Craft Victoria. Melbourne. Australia.
2012. BIG DESIGN MARKET. Installation of 10,000 woven stars. Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Melbourne. Australia.
2011 MIS DESIGN. Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle and Alphaville collaboration. Curated by Dr Grace McQuilten. The Potter Museum of Art. University of Melbourne, Parkville Australia.
2010 ADORNED. Group Exhibition. ‘Mo Lo’u Tamā’ (For my dad) woven breastplate. Object – Australian Design Centre. Sydney. Australia.
2010 REBIRTH. Exhibition & Fashion show. Collaboration with The Social Studio for Virgin Airlines Melbourne Fashion Show. Australia.
2010 FASHIONING THE MANA. Solo exhibition Oceanic Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria. 3 woven breastplates – Fa’amolemole, pe mafai ona tatou lalaga fa’atasi? (Please, can we weave as one?), Batman Who & Mo Lo’u Tama (For my dad). Acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
2009 CRAFT CUBED. City/Country. Group exhibition. Craft Victoria. Melbourne. Australia. First woven breastplate, Fa’amolemole, pe mafai ona tatou lalaga fa’atasi? (Please, can we weave as one?)

PUBLIC WORKSHOPS & COMMUNITY EDUCATION

2025 World Star Weaving Day. Redlands IndigiScapes Eco Market. Public Star Weaving Workshop. QLD. Australia
2023 The Ascended. Chantal Fraser. Lei weaving workshop. Griffith University Art Museum. QLD. Australia
2023 SIS Exhibition GOMA. Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle Workshop. QLD State Library. QLD. Australia
2022 Summer Holiday Program. Moreton Bay City Council – Albany Creek Library, The Vault Caboolture Hub, Deception Bay Library. QLD. Australia
2018 Hummingbird House – Palliative care facility for children. Artist in Residence. Chermside. QLD. Australia.
2018 Museum of Brisbane and Redland Art Gallery — One Billion Stars public programming. QLD. Australia
2017 – 2018 Woodford Folk Festival. Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle workshops. QLD. Australia
2016 – 2018 International star weaving workshops: Samoa, Aotearoa New Zealand, Malaysia, USA, Ireland, Canada, Fiji, Cook Islands, Hawai’i & Guam.
2015–2016 Sydney Opera House, All About Women — public weaving workshops as part of One Billion Stars programming. NSW. Australia.
2014–2015 Strength to Love. Artisan Queensland — weaving workshops and featured artist, Brisbane. QLD. Australia
2013 MUMA Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA). Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle. VIC. Australia.
2013 Selling Yarns 3. National Museum of Australia. Workshop facilitator. Canberra. ACT. Australia.
2012 – present One Billion Stars star weaving workshops — delivered across Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns, Newcastle) including Queensland schools, QUT and UQ campuses, hospitals, refugee communities, Brisbane Juvenile Detention Centre, architectus, ARUP, BCM.

LEADERSHIP, PANELS & KEYNOTES

2025 – present Visitor Experience Officer. Tourism & Events. Redland City Council. Queensland, Australia.
2024 – 2025 Disability Support Work. In house & Activities. Staffing Options. Redland Bay. Queensland, Australia.
2023 Brisbane Youth Detention Centre. Weaving workshops with First Nations, Pacific Island and Maori youth. Queensland, Australia.
2021 16 Days of Activism. Cultivate the Arts. Interview & workshop with Artist & Curator Chantal Fraser. Moreton Bay Regional Council. Queensland.
2020 – 2024 Bayside Outrigger Canoe Club. Secretary & Vice President. State & National competitions. Cleveland, Queensland.
2019 Marks of Mana. Panel with Director Lisa Taouma, Julia Mageau Gray, Lanatina Sila. Lisa Jameson. Conscious Mic, Pacific Wave and Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre.
2019 She the Change Festival keynote. New South Wales.
2019 Queensland University of Technology. Guest Lecture & workshop. Interior Design Students for Hidden Lanes Festival.
2019 Pacific Connect — International Centre for Democratic Partnerships. Women’s leadership, Pasifika entrepreneurship, and identity.
2019 Redlands Coast Citizen of the Year — community recognition for significant community contribution through creative practice.
2017 Queensland Parliament House address. Announcement of One Million Stars installation. Former Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
2017 Fiji Medical Association. Presentation, Addressing domestic violence. Pasifika-led approaches to community health and the role of cultural knowledge systems. Fiji National University.
2016 Lotus World Music & Arts Festival (Indiana, USA). Bear Clan Patrol (Winnipeg, Canada). Presentation on cross-cultural leadership and craft for community cohesion, activism and healing.
2016 Pasifika Medical Association. Presentation. 20th Anniversary. Pasifika women’s wellbeing and the role of cultural practice in community health. Tamaki Makaurau. Auckland Aotearoa New Zealand.
2013 Exchanges. Artist Talk. Northcity 4. Brunswick Melbourne. Australia.
2012 Founded One Billion Stars (renamed from One Million Stars to End Violence) – a community movement teaching people to weave the eight-pointed star as a tangible reminder of safety, dignity, respect, and commitment to ending violence.
2010 Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle. Co-founder. Monthly gatherings & workshops.

PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA:

2019 – Redlands Coast Citizen of the Year
2018 – Samoa Observer (cover)
2015 – Peppermint Magazine (cover feature)
2014 – Frankie Magazine feature
2014 – Melbourne Now, Unleashed Creative magazine
2012 – 101 Contemporary Australian Artists

WORK WITH MARYANN

There's a place for you

here.

Whether you want to weave, build a website, or join a community —

Fetū Studio is where it all begins. Come and explore what’s possible.