Uili Lousi (1947 – 2025) Tongan Climate Advocate, Artist, & Cultural Custodian
This is the first thing Uili Lousi said when we met at NY Climate Week, in a serendipitous encounter that would entagle our life journeys until the day of his passing earlier this year. The way that Uili moved through this world was filled with spirit. As an Indigenous Tongan leader, activist, artist, educator, permaculturalist, healer, and energy worker, he embodied how to be in relationship with greater-than-human life, and how to listen deeply to mother Earth. When he spoke, his words carried the message of the ocean. The way he communicated with world leaders about the urgency of climate action was grounded in the magic of whale song. His international journeys wove thousands of global citizens into a web of support for Tonga and Moana Oceania. Uili was renowned globally as a visual artist, weaving traditional Tongan motifs with modern geometric abstractions to communicate the existential threat of climate change, as experienced by Pacific island nations. At home he cultivated a small scale farm as a model for wider sustainable living. He moved with the seasons through a changing climate. He knew first hand how global systems were affecting local lives, particularly with local islands impacted by sea level rise, and ocean health under threat. Of most importance to him was the future of young people and how they could be equipped as advocates for a stronger, brighter future.
Uili’s Art via Instagram Strong and gentle, just like the ocean, Uili’s legacy will continue to shape the contours of those whose lives he touched. His life perfectly embodied the essence of a better ancestor, and his actions will have ripple effects – both across his beloved ocean and across generations to come.
Written by: Geordan Shannon |
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