POPULATION - did you know?

Cook Islands - 21,388
Fiji - 905,949
French Polynesia - 274,578
Kiribati - 105,432
New Zealand - 4,076,140
Niue - 2,166
Samoa - 176,908
Tonga - 114,689

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American Samoa

      Cook Islands

  Fiji

  New Zealand

  Samoa

 Tonga

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Please state your name and field of expertise:  
Rosanna Raymond, Polynesian Arts and Culture

Age:  36 - 40

Which country are you from?
New Zealand (NZ) born Samoan….a Salagi 

How long have you lived in London? 
8 years

How long are you looking at staying?
Maybe 5 more years,…oh did I just say that

What made you choose to live in London?
I followed my husband – he is a photographer and was unable to grow any further in his field in NZ.  He had a British passport so we thought we might as well use it.



Who/What have been your main influences?
My cultural heritage has been a massive influence on me especially our arts and legends but also movements like hiphop, punk and reggae for their views on keeping up the struggle of the marginalised… and all our own polynesian artists who keep the fire in our bellies burning.

How do you feel you have grown/evolved since having moved to London?
London has made me grow in a direction I never thought of living at home…….mostly in a positive way.. Helping me understand the legacy of colonization and why and what happened to us and to them as a people today. Working with Museums has made me realize how clever our people were, as they really can’t get rid of us now!!!!!!  

Travel Highlights: Living in London has allowed you to go where/to do what?
When I have some money!!!!! I have been able to cruise over to Paris to visit friends and also New York City, is close by…still need to explore more though, me have got trapped in the vortex.

What has been the highlight of your career/your time in London?
So many…… performing with 'Ngati Ranana' and 'Beats of Polynesia' and most definitely working on the Pasifika Styles exhibition - www.PasifikaStyles.org.uk

When you first opened the Pasifika Styles (PS) exhibition, what goals did you set to achieve? Did some of your goals evolve to an even better result?
Through the PS exhibition I wanted to give a modern voice to Polynesian arts and culture of today as most people here in the UK only get to see our culture through museums where it is presented as ancient and dark in austere rooms with don’t touch signs or through the tourist industry where the clichéd image of the untouched beaches and the dusky maiden is used to sell our culture as unspoiled or pristine warm and welcoming…which is cool but, there is little mention of the urbanization and effects of colonization that we endured and indeed claimed as our now. I wanted to show our culture as it has developed today in NZ, as this has been my experience, I have always loved art as a way to communicate and it is a great healer as well.

PS took 2 years to fundraise and was challenging on all fronts as it involved developing an audience from scratch here in the UK, we have no boxes to put our tick in when applying for funding, NZ funding bodies weren’t particularly helpfully in this vision, as they need and want to help the community at home, it was the artists and the many people here in the UK that gave me the stamina to make it happen. The logistics of moving art across the world was madness and preparing to look after all the artists when they got here as well as making sure the UK community was involved and looked after properly was pretty scary at times but it has been rewarding not just personally for my own art practise but also in helping to bring about more awareness to our arts not just here in the UK but internationally, as well as Pasifika Styles has had feedback from a global community of artists and scholars, and it is still rolling along touching people as we speak.

Within the Pacific Island arts, tell us your favourite myth / legend / story / dance / hymn-song? And why?
My favourite myth…oh this is hard as I love so many, how the coconut came to islands is one of my favourites as each island has it’s own particular version, and each version shows its’ islands characteristics. It showed me much how our people moved around the moana (ocean) and though we are different we have shared histories that bring us together…the coconut was the life force of island life, and the legend is one of the oldest myths we have, it started my creative path as it was my first costume and storytelling I did with the Pacific Sisters and we eventually turned it into a play.

Where do you get your inspiration when composing poetry?
My poetry is inspired by many of the myths and landscapes, if you know many of the references you have a different experience when reading them. I tend to think it of my ancient self talking to my modern self, each side telling each other different aspects of life and love and laments for things that have past but also finding that place to celebrate the future……words were the food of chiefs and was considered our highest art form, hula was there to decorate the words so I see the words in terms of movement as well.

What galleries current display your art? (especially those infamous tapa jeans)
Tapa jeans - the first pair ‘G’nang G’near’ lives in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

The 2^nd  ‘Repatriation’  lives with me for performances while the 3^rd pair ‘Geneaology’ will go on permanent display at the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter  but not till the new gallery is open a bit of a wait 2009.

Eyeland Part 3,photo installation is at Sacred Café, Carnaby St Precint, Ganton St, W1, London,  till xmas this year.   www.SacredCafe.co.uk

Fa’amanaia: Collection of body adornments is showing alongside Pacific Patterns featuring Glen Jowitt, George Nuku, Bethany Edmunds at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Marton, Middlesborough, UK until Nov 2007.  
www.CaptCook-ne.co.uk

‘Entrails and Tinkershells’ a collection of body adornment is part of Longitude in association with Tautai Trust and The Art Studio, Arorangi, Rarotonga 11^th-29^th Sept 2007.  

What would your advice be to anyone thinking of coming to London?
Make sure you have heaps of $$$$$ and a bank account opened before you come, and only stay at your mates house for a week before you start paying da rent..it’s just too expensive here for the usual cuzzy rates.

What has surprised you about London?
How many different cultures live here.

Have there been any/many cultural differences as to where you are from to London?
Where to start and with what culture…I live out in South London and there are lots of Africans, Latino’s and Afro Carribeans.. this means the same foods, like taro, yams, coconuts and breadfruits…wow, that was cool…the main difference apart from the colour and the different spices people use is the way in which they communicate with you on the street…

London Top 5 Faves

What’s your favourite saying in London?
Well proper…..

What’s your favourite food?
Oka…raw fish

What’s your favourite music?
Reggae

What’s your favourite leisurely thing to do?
Read

What's your favourite night out thing to do?
Hmmm…..Going to the Vietnamese restaurant down the road followed by a good dance to old school reggae music at the Mass Nightclub in Brixton.

GALLERY - Rosanna Raymond


To nominate an  individual or organisation for a ‘Spotlight’  interview,  email:   Spotlight@LondonFale.org.uk

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