Visual Arts
PILINA - FestPAC 50th Anniversary Exhibition
Co-Curator
Frances Koya Vakaʻuta, Phd
Born and raised in Fiji, Frances has over 2 decades of professional experience in higher education. Prior to joining the Pacific Community, she was Associate Professor at The University of the South Pacific where she held various positions of responsibility including Director of the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies, Associate Dean Research, Innovation and Internationalization, Head of Secondary Education, and coordinator of Education for Sustainable Development. She has developed and taught over thirty courses across various modes of delivery at pre-degree, degree, and postgraduate levels of study. She has supervised graduate research students and researched in the areas of teacher education, curriculum studies, culture and education, Pacific pedagogies and methodologies, indigenous knowledge, education in small island states, education for sustainability, citizenship education, pacific heritage and contemporary arts and social policy.
Frances is the Traditional Knowledge advisor on PIFS OPOC Team of Experts and serves as board member of the International Evaluation Academy (IEAc); member of the co-editing team for Indigenous Science Network; and Editorial Advisory Board member for new Bristol University Press book series on Comparative and International Education. Over the last fifteen years, she has worked in the development space on various aspects of education, culture and arts policy, project development and evaluation. She is a passionate advocate for resilience education, culture, the arts, and the status of the Pacific island-based artists.
Co-Curator
Alyssa Mei Ungacta Chau
Alyssa Mei Ungacta Chau is a Pacific Research Intern at the East-West Center Arts Program currently serving under the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture. Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, she is of Taiwanese and CHamoru descent with village ties to Otdot, Dedidu, and Malessoʻ on island of Guahan. She is currently an undergraduate student at Kapiʻolani Community College planning to graduate with her B.A. in Sustainability and Pacific Islands Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Program Overview
PILINA is a retrospective multimedia exhibition developed around the broad theme Our Cultural Wealth - Kateira bon kaubwaira (Kiribati), Men ko bwinnid (RMI), Kastom, Kalja mo tradisen (Vanuatu), Masuru (Vella, Sol Is), Koloa (Tonga), Measina (Samoa) and Taonga (Aotearoa, NZ). The exhibition commemorates the 50th Anniversary of FestPAC which is recognized as the world’s largest cultural celebration of indigenous Pacific Islanders. The exhibition includes a photographic exhibition, ephemera and select cultural heritage objects. It highlights the value and significance of cultural heritage and indigenous and local knowledge as critical enablers for resilience building and futures thinking to achieve our sustainable development aspirations.
The title of the exhibition, Pilina in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language) reinforces this idea of our relationships as the source of our heritage, and by extension, our legacy and wealth. Pilina means relationships, closeness, and togetherness drawing from the phrase Ko Kākou Pilina which is an inclusive reference to our collective relationships and the values associated with a sense of community. This aligns with the first iteration of the 50th anniversary exhibition held in Fiji, in 2022, under the title our relationships are our heritage and wealth, Na Wekaqu Noqu iYau Vosa Vaka Viti (indigenous Fijian language). The simple title Pilina, draws on the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, phrase He Waiwai Nui Ko Kākou Pilina which carries the same meaning.
The retrospective multimedia exhibition captures a series of just under eighty photographs clustered in seven thematic areas which speak to the essence of the festival – People of the Sea, Stories through Dance, Cultural Wealth, Our People, Portraits, Identity and Behind the Scenes.
Program Venue and Schedule
Venue
Capitol Modern: The Hawaiʻi State Art Museum
250 South Hotel St. Honolulu, HI 96813
Opening Event
7 June 2024 | 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Capitol Modern: The Hawaiʻi State Art Museum
Dates
7 June 2024 | 31 December 2024
Times
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Monday to Saturday