- About the Artists
The art throughout this issue responds to a central theme: maintaining an indigenous identity within the French colonial system. These seven artists express, confront, and assert indigenous identities; they challenge and extend the visual discourse across the region and engage home communities and distant audiences. Rather than aesthetic similarities, I sought diversity. I invited women and men, well-established and emerging, who are exploring new media, mastering fine art practices, confronting social and cultural issues, and celebrating strength and beauty in Oceania.
These artists grew up in the Islands. Many are self-taught, some went abroad to art schools, and others attended Tahiti’s Centre des Métiers d’Art (cma), where students are encouraged to discover individual expression while learning techniques inherent in Polynesian and Oceanic artistic heritage. As students at cma, Olson Teraiamano and Manaarii Tetauupu created works that pay tribute to ti‘i (anthropomorphic figures) and contemplate the role of deities in modern life. Marie-Hélène Villierme, who left Tahiti to attend art schools in France and Belgium, uses photography and film to present a visual testimony to life in French Polynesia. TAHE, a self-taught artist, reconstitutes found objects to re-humanize abandoned spaces around Tahiti.
One of the first Kanak contemporary artists, Micheline Néporon has devoted herself to art since the late 1970s and in the 1990s attended fine arts and architectural schools in France. Denise Tiavouane and Paula Boi Gony are also self-taught artists and, like Micheline, have been included in the prestigious Asia Pacific Triennial. Together they are “big sisters” for the interdisciplinary arts organization Siapo NC Collective and use art to inspire youth to explore Kanak history and identity.
For me, the art throughout this issue highlights innovative and compelling expressions of visual culture in French Polynesia and New Caledonia with a definitive similarity: the artists are consciously working with their [End Page IX] communities to incite discourse about indigenous identity through art. I am grateful to the artists for their contributions and for the assistance of Ela To‘omaga-Kaikilekofe, Patrice Kaikilekofe, Viri Taimana, and guest editors Bruno Saura and Léopold Mu Si Yan. [End Page X]
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