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Contemporary Traditions Museum Artefacts and Creativity in Vanuatu

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Contemporary Traditions Museum Artefacts and Creativity in Vanuatu Contemporary Traditions 4 Museum artefacts and creativity in Vanuatu The Nawita Association of Contemporary Artists in Vanuatu: only those with natal affiliations, Haidy Geismar was officially established in 1989 with sculptor or in some instances, those who have been Emmanuel Watt as President and painter Sero properly initiated, are entitled to reproduce the Institution not given????? Kuautonga as Vice-President. From the outset, customary resources belonging to any particular Introduction: Collecting during fieldwork the association was Francophile, supported by place. However, in the case of contemporary L’Atelier Gallery, founded in 1985 by Suzanne ni-Vanuatu artists the creative use of customary In 2000, just before leaving for Vanuatu to on the production, collection and presentation 1 Kastom is Bastien, a long-term French resident of Vanuatu. imagery or motifs using non-traditional media undertake doctoral research, I was awarded of two kinds of object, from two very different the Bislama The constitution was initially written in French, is permitted. This connection of traditional (national pidgin a small collections grant by the University places: contemporary art made by members affirming a free membership, open to expatriates imagery and non-traditional media is at the English) term of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and of the Nawita artists association based in the and ni-Vanuatu alike, the primary condition being heart of the definition of contemporary art used broadly Anthropology (UCMAA). The making of this capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, and two customary that the association must hold a yearly exhibition. (see Cochrane 1997). It therefore stands that in Vanuatu collection was to form an explicit part of my headdresses made in the village of Lamap, The first showing of the association was held changes and concerns within the material to describe research: a study of the work of the Vanuatu Southern Malakula (North-Central Vanuatu). indigenous and in the gallery space of the French Embassy in domain of kastom have a vital affect on the National Museum and Cultural Centre (VCC) in autochthonous 1989, which has remained the venue ever since. understanding and creation of contemporary the context of the steadily growing commodity practices, Nawita – re-presenting kastom During the year 2000, Nawita was involved in art, as artists struggle to represent, rather generally viewed market for ‘cultural property’. During fieldwork, several projects ranging from participation in the than reproduce, to image rather than objectify, as pre-colonial In 1987, local artists Emmanuel Watt, Sero working under the auspices of the VCC, I worked 8th Festival of Pacific Arts, the 6th International kastom. As Emmanuel Watt commented in 2000 in the political Kuautonga, Fidel Yoringmal, Juliette Pita and with men and women in both urban and village Symposium of the Pacific Arts Association, an “Before we lived in kastom, now we make it.” context of the environments who earned their living by making French expatriate Patrice Cujo, met in Port post-colonial international Francophone exhibition in Canada, and selling artefacts, investigating how they Vila to discuss the establishment of a formal In rejecting the material practices of kastom, nation-state. and the development of workshops and projects organisation of contemporary artists. Prior to this, contemporary artists emphasise creativity over For some used objects to make statements about local, mainly geared at youth throughout Vanuatu. most visual production called contemporary art in replication in their technological practices and more detailed national, and gender identities, relationships Participation in these kinds of projects ensure discussions of Vanuatu was created by foreigners, exemplified discourse. However, members of Nawita are with other places, the past, and the future. These that the association and its members are able to some of the ways by the work of Nicholai Michoutouchkine, also concerned to maintain a firmly indigenous people included expatriate and indigenous participate in and mesh together local, national in which kastom dealers, and ni-Vanuatu carvers, weavers, and Aloi Pilioko and Robert Tatin (see Regenvanu identity – one that sets them apart from other is conceptualised and international forums for contemporary arts. contemporary artists working both in the capital 1996, 1997). The meeting was also attended contemporary artists – in Vanuatu, in the in Vanuatu, see by several ni-Vanuatu [2] who had been at the The primary criteria of membership outlined by Pacific, and beyond. Making art thus becomes Jolly (1992) and of Vanuatu, Port Vila and on other islands, Nawita’s members emphasises the contemporary a careful accomplishment: to be indigenous Bolton (2003). especially Pentecost, Ambrym and Malakula. technical training college in Port Vila during the brief period art was offered as a course, or defined explicitly against the concept of kastom. but not too traditional, to be contemporary but 2 Ni-Vanuatu is This essay is an account of the influence the term used had an active interest in creating ‘contemporary Artists or artisans using “traditional media and not to lose touch with a local corpus of objects of museum artefacts and practices on the to describe arts’ using their skills in customary artefact traditional principles” are formally banned from and images. Artists in Vanuatu can navigate all citizens of contemporary production and classification of being members (Regenvanu 1996: 312). The these concerns by exploiting the media of Essays from the paa 6th international symposium production. Following a suggestion by Juliette objects in Vanuatu, told through a descriptive Vanuatu. Pita they decided that the organisation would division here between the contemporary and contemporary arts, claiming kastom as a style analysis of the objects I collected for the UCMAA. be named Nawita meaning octopus in Bislama, the customary is thus fundamentally material, rather than as a practice. This entanglement is In particular, I want to emphasise the importance the national pidgin English of Vanuatu. Each tradition being tentatively, and somewhat further complicated by the growing desire of Contemporary Traditions of international museum work in the creation of tentacle represents a different artistic medium ambiguously, marked by technological process many ni-Vanuatu to earn cash from customary indigenous classifications of contemporary art or form of expression, highlighting the diverse and media. The exact reproduction of artefacts production, leading to growing competition Geismar representing pacific art and kastomin Vanuatu. [1] I focus my discussion talents of the group, united in a single body. designated as kastom are usually restricted within Vanuatu’s limited art market where 70 71 3 We decided tourists, dealers and museum collectors pay a urban phenomenon: artists need to be in town The Nawita Collection for the dedicated Christian, he does not drink kava or to pay the premium for objects considered to be kastom. to sell their work and raise the cash to make Cambridge Museum alcohol and rarely leaves town. His idealised same price more art, to buy supplies and to meet other version of traditional life in Vanuatu is not to each artist Only two small galleries sell and display In commissioning a collection of contemporary artists. Yet despite the economic, social and about his personal practice or about his own regardless of his contemporary art in Port Vila. In both, art from Nawita for the UCMAA I had several material importance of town, it is the ‘islands’ ties to particular any particular island. He is or her relative contemporary arts are sold alongside more meetings with the association spread over the professional that are considered to be the primary source of very conscious of the fact that he can depict conventional traditional artefacts and tourist course of one year. Initially I selected the artists successes, creativity and indigenous identity in Vanuatu. kastom without actually practising it. souvenirs. The Vanuatu tourist market is in conjunction with Nawita’s current president, and the sum For this reason, even if someone was born in of money was decidedly ‘low end’ and often restricts the size Sero Kuautonga. We discussed the purposes of Despite an urban, Christian lifestyle that excludes town and has lived there all their lives, they will based on the and material of pieces produced (i.e. they must the collection and fixed the price to be paid for most of these activities, John commented to me draw upon natal affiliations and entitlements total amount I be low cost and easily transportable for tourists). each piece. [3] Usually collections are conceived that “I want to show the people of England what from the island home of their family in many had been given The internal market, Government, business, and as formed by the choice of the buyer alone, life is like in Vanuatu; kastom life in Vanuatu, by the UCMAA aspects of their everyday life. Islands are seen as a few interested expatriates, is by now virtually despite the agency of local producers. It was my dress-up in Vanuatu, every day life in Vanuatu: rather than places of nurture and nourishment, the source saturated. In this context, the main forums for intention to make the process of selection more Hemi difren tumas [It is completely different].” on the current of images and identity for contemporary artists. prices that the display and sale of contemporary art are
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