Transcript
ROBIN WHITE: It's a very important concern for the people of the a Pacific but it's a global issue as well because of course the ocean has a huge effect for example on climate, which is global. It's a global effect. And the Pacific being such a large body of water, that's a significant aspect of climate, influence on climate.
So those are the sorts of thoughts going through my head and very much part of the conversation that I had with the women I worked with in Fiji to create the work that we made for this exhibition.
DOMINIC GODFREY: There were two Fijian artists you worked with, who were they?
RW: That was Tamari Cabeikaanacea and Leba Vosaki. They're both from Moce, the island of Moce in the Lau group, but the work that we made, we were in Lautoka in Viti Levu to make that work.
DG: And that's E Rawa Na Bula Mai Na Wasawasa?
RW: Yeah, E Rawa Na Bula Mai Na Wasawasa - life comes from the ocean… which is an expression of the close connection that peoples of Oceania have with the sea.
We're looking at the ocean in a more metaphoric sense, the fact that there is only one ocean, essentially. I mean, we humans have sort of divided it up geographically and given it names according to various national concerns but it is one ocean and it touches every shore.
We saw it very much as a global issue.
DG: Back to that interconnectedness that you mentioned before isn't it?
RW: Yeah it's what connects us. You know this is a very different sort of mentality that is common in the Pacific, that isn't necessarily so common elsewhere. That the idea where the ocean is not so much a barrier, it's what connects us. It has always been our highway, our road to each other which we have traversed these many centuries, uncounted centuries as islanders.
My husband and I, and our children, we lived on Tarawa for 17-years yep.
DG: How did that affect, how has that affected your outlook as an artist?
RW: The thing that happened in Kiribati was really, it provided opportunities and in fact an incentive to move beyond the more individualistic approach to art practice that one is more familiar with from a sort of European background and to explore working collaboratively which I've endeavoured to do as much as possible ever since.
DG: And of course the other work that is showing at the UN is another collaborative effort.
RW: Yeah yeah, from Tonga.
Robin White worked with Tongan artist Ruha Fifita on two of the three pieces showing at the UN throughout June.
