Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan Fijian storyteller. Her research and practice area of interest is Oceanic Indigenous-led storytelling, working across live performance, screen & digital media as a writer, director, creative producer, performer, educator and mentor. Her work explores creative processes and outcomes grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, and nurturing the vā where embodiment, cultural expression, digitisation and neuroscience intersect. 

A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, she has worked with various artists and organisations across Australia and the Pacific including Warner Music, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House, Netflix ANZ & Mad Ones Films, Playwriting Australia, Mangere Arts Centre, Monkey Baa Theatre Co, La Boite Theatre Co, Belvoir St, Sydney Theatre Co, Arts Centre Melbourne, Art Gallery of NSW, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture & Pacific Studies. 

In her commitment to community-led creativity, Emele has produced storytelling programs for Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Community Arts Network x Lotterywest, Black Birds, Q Theatre (Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre) mentored and contributed to Soul Alphabet projects. She is an active member of the Tokelauan and Fijian communities across Whadjuk, Bindjareb and Wardandi Noongar Country, and the secretary of Kaiga Tokelau i Perth WA.

Alongside her collective focused practice, Emele has also worked with musicians such as Ngaiire, Thelma Plum and Solange Knowles.

Emele is a sessional academic at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Acting and Bachelor of Performing Arts) and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (Performance and Ideas), the host of the Unravel & Solwata Kin podcasts, Lead Editor of Talanoa and the founder and director of Studio Kiin.

In 2022, Emele produced the ‘Shift in Worldview’ festival between the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

She is the 2024 Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence at Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University of Wellington), a recipient of the Australia Council & Creative NZ 2022 Digital Fellowship, and the 2020 Playwriting Australia Ignition inititative.