WINNER - Nerine Martini Memorial Award
Judge said, “This large-scale work, activated by the landscape and wind, conjures elements of the artists’ family’s Fijian cultural practices - as well as engaging with local communities to share in making and contributing memories of passed loved ones into this bright and poignant sculpture.”
Moce, 2023
bamboo and fabric
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About the Artist
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Transcription
My name is Karlina and I'm Lee, and we're artists based in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, on the land of the gaming Gundungurra and Dharug peoples.
My work (Karlina) is lens based and recently I've moved into installation and sculpture. I'm (Lee) a former scaffolder, truck driver, chef, teacher, stagehand, maintenance man, that now uses those skills to create art.
Our sculpture Moce, which means goodbye in Fiji and really came about from a recent family trip to Fiji. We were driving past a cemetery in Suva, and it was a typical cemetery; cold grey stone, tombstones but dotted amongst it were these insane explosions of colour. Like a makeshift bamboo scaffold with the brightest, boldest, liveliest colours, kind of dancing in the wind like a celebration. It was quite shocking and indicated to me a different attitude towards death than I was familiar with.
Fabric is a large part of Fijian rituals and when you visit a grave in Fiji, you take fabric to lay on the grave, this would be a modern extension of the ritual of using Masi or Fijian bark cloth. Masi is used traditionally to signify milestones in a person's life, given at birth and used in ritual when you die. Material pieces attached to the sculpture have been made by members of the public. So, we had workshops leading up to the installation where we invited members of the public to come along and collectively make something that was a tribute to their family members using fabric, and small objects that reminded them of a family member that had passed.
The goal was to get as many people as we could to share their memories. The fabrics and objects that have triggered those beautiful memories are to be built like a giant collective temple of memory. The collective part of the process is important to us because I think sometimes it seems art is considered sort of separate or even redundant from everyday life, particularly working-class life. I think that's crazy because my ancestors were builders and craftsmen. They were incredibly creative in their own way. My dad built houses and furniture. My grandfather made wooden toys. My mum and our families have made clothes, cushions, and quilts for generations.
They still do that in Fiji. To me, the world we live in was created by trillions and trillions of acts of everyday creativity by people who would never call themselves artists. So, we encouraged everyone to take part. I think that collective making is important in Fijian culture as well, much like it is here, the crafting is always done together. So, it was important for our workshops to be a space where we all get together and make something. It's a time to talk to each other and remember the person that passed away. Our site visit to Rookwood was incredible too, because the location that we chose spoke to us when we went past it. Lee pointed out that the roundabout mound looked very much like my family grave site in Vunivaivai in Fiji.