wfn.org | Baha'i news: Prestigious exhibition presents "New Garden"

[Sally Weeks <sweeks@bwc.org>]

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>Prestigious exhibition presents "New Garden"

BRISBANE, Australia, 2 February (BWNS) - Traditional Pacific island bark cl oth stenciled with designs depicting a vision of a "New Garden" was one of  the artworks commissioned for a prestigious exhibition at the Queensland Ar t Gallery.

The sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art - APT6 - is now well i nto its four-month run and features works by some of the best-known artists  of the Pacific region.

Prominent New Zealand artist Robin White was invited to participate, with o rganizers mentioning a possible collaboration with a tapa artist from Fiji.  Eventually Mrs. White proposed that she work with two Fijians, Leba Toki a nd Bale Jione.

All three artists are Baha'is and used their vision of a future society to  inspire their work.

"What we wanted to do was to present our vision of what Fiji could be - and  what it will be," said Mrs. White.

In Fiji, she explained, almost all of the world's great religions are repre sented by a significant portion of the population - Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist , Christian, and a small but growing Baha'i community.

"That makes it special," she said. "Somehow we wanted to get that idea acro ss."

The tapa - or masi, as the Fijians call the craft of tapa and the plant fro m which it is made - is traditionally made for a wedding, and the artists i ndeed used that concept.

"The idea was not about a literal wedding between two individuals but rathe r the idea of a marriage of cultures - namely the indigenous and Indian cul tures that constitute contemporary Fijian society - connected by bonds of l ove and respect," Mrs. White said.

In the end, many elements were incorporated into their tapa. For the main p iece, a vision of the Shrine of the Bab in the Holy Land and its surroundin g terraces was combined with images of importance to Fijians.

For Mrs. Toki, the mere act of a Fijian like herself collaborating with a N ew Zealander to create artwork on tapa was a breakthrough.

"I knew that only the Fijians can do the tapa," she said, remembering her s kepticism when Mrs. White first contacted her for an earlier project. "I wa s thinking, 'How can we work together?'"

For Mrs. White, it was during her travels in the Pacific that she had gotte n the idea of a collaboration. Already a well-known artist in other media,  she had known about the tapa produced in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. But when s he saw a particularly beautiful piece hanging in the transit lounge in the  Nadi airport, she decided she must learn the technique for making it.

In Fiji, she met Mrs. Toki at a Baha'i gathering and later at the Toki resi dence noticed some beautiful tapa on the wall.

>"Who did these?" Mrs. White asked.

When she discovered that Mrs. Toki herself was the artist, an idea was born . At first Mrs. Toki was reluctant to work jointly - she had never heard of  the type of tapa she did being created by anyone other than Fijians. But w hen she discovered that Mrs. White indeed was an artist, she was willing to  give it a go. And when they began collaborating, she found the relationshi p rewarding.

"Working together is very powerful," Mrs. Toki says now. "Different races,  both giving ideas."

She said a pattern of consultation, action, and reflection - familiar to al l three women through their Baha'i activities - became a key part of the cr eation of their artwork for the APT6 exhibition.

The trio completed their new work several months ago and traveled to Brisba ne in early December for the opening of APT6 and to participate in stimulat ing conversations with other artists from throughout the Asian Pacific regi on.

>The exhibition runs through 5 April.

For a longer version of the article, and to see photographs of the art and  the artists, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/754

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