Fabrications, Articulations, Activations: Creating Vā Through Intentional Juxtapositions & Decolonizing the ‘Dusky Maiden.’
Arts
HAVC 195: Senior Thesis
This essay examines how two contemporary Pacific Islander artists of Sāmoan descent, Yuki Kihara and Rosanna Raymond, use their decolonizing works to critique colonial representations in 19th century photography of Pacific Islander women as "dusky maidens." I analyze how they utilize the Polynesian spatio-temporal concept of vā, the connecting space between things, to create a dialogue between history, the present, identities, and spaces. This essay addresses how vā is activated and embodied through the use of the artists’ own bodies within their respective works, as well as through the use of "intentional juxtapositions:" a creative tool which consciously uses recognizable iconography from different times, places, and peoples, and puts them together in visual and conceptual dialogue. My intent is to provide a platform to discuss how these two case studies address the powerful role of images in colonial history and their ongoing impact on Polynesian peoples, and how Kihara and Raymond use art and creative practice to imagine a decolonial future.
