The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Artists The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 44 (opposite, clockwise from top left) Veniana Maraia Paulina Muairua water vessel 3 2021 / Earthenware pottery and pandanus support ring / 30 x 25cm (approx.) / Commissioned for APT10. Purchased 2021 with funds from the Oceania Women’s Fund through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Laweni Tekina Laiseane and Apenisa Bainivalu 2021 Veniana Maraia Paulina Saqamoli water vessel 1 2021 / Earthenware pottery and pandanus support ring / 32 x 28cm (approx.) / Commissioned for APT10. Purchased 2021 with funds from the Oceania Women’s Fund through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Veniana Maraia Paulina with Water vessels 2021 Photographs: Leca Vunibobo The practice of Fijian pottery dates to the original settlement of the South Pacific islands by the Lapita people around 1290 BCE. 1 Unlike the practices of masi and weaving, pottery is a skill shared by very few villages in Fiji today. In the Rewa Province of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, Nasilai is the only village where this practice has been sustained. It has been stated that, historically, whenever a baby girl was born in the village, a lump of clay was placed on her forehead so that she would know how to carry on the pottery-making tradition. 2 It has long been the role of pottery makers from Nasilai to make water vessels for the Roko Tui Dreketi, high chief of their region, for both practical and ceremonial use. 3 This custom, alongside various day-to-day uses, has nurtured the emergence of an exceptionally varied range of water vessels from the village. As such, Nasilai, now home to just over 30 families, continues to be sought out by researchers, tourists and collectors, eager to learn about Fiji’s rich history through its living legacy of pottery-making. At the heart of this legacy are the efforts of master potter, Veniana Maraia Paulina, and her family, who are among the last few active potters living in Nasilai. Paulina is the younger sister of the late Taraivini Wati (1935–2004) — also a recognised master potter, who designed the iconic Saqamoli water vessel featured on the Fijian one-dollar coin. Wati’s son, Apenisa Bainivalu, is also a recognised potter, working in close collaboration with his wife, Laweni Tekina Laiseane. For APT10, the artists have completed a new series of 25 water vessels based on forms and techniques unique to Nasilai. These include Muairua water vessels, which have a curved bottom and small opening so that they can rock with the movements of a canoe to avoid spillage; Tagautolu and Tagaurua water vessels, distinguished by their peanut-like shape, which makes them easier to hold; the Saqamoli and Saqatabua which resemble bunches of fruit with separate compartments for the chiefs and their company; the round Saqa vessel; and Saqa gusuirua and Saqa gusuitolu , which have multiple openings to allow children to drink separately from their parents or men to drink separately from women. 4 The vessels are made from clay sourced from the riverbanks that border Nasilai village. Paulina, Laiseane and Bainivalu achieve remarkable symmetry using only their hands, wooden beaters and smooth river stones to shape the clay. Each vessel is decorated with intricate motifs that reference ideas and shapes from their environment — such as rainbows, the sun, waves, animal patterns and tracks and forests — or depict neighbouring villages and their inhabitants. 5 The motifs are applied through incisions on the surface as well as protruding shapes and figures arranged around the vessels in linear patterns. Due to the nature of the clay, the vessels can take several months to dry. Once thoroughly dry, they are fired in a locally constructed oven, fuelled by coconut husks and wood. Historically, water vessels were sealed using the gum of the dakua tree; however, this gum has become increasingly difficult to source due to deforestation. Paulina and Wati learned to make Nasilai pottery as children under the guidance of their grandmother, Aliti Adivukailagi. Adivukailagi was a lifelong practitioner and continued to make and teach pottery until she passed away in 1969 at the age of 99. With her example in mind, Bainivalu and Paulina’s son, Rakabuta Niko Demo, began building a pottery workshop in January 2021 with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Fiji Arts Council. The space will support the family to continue their own work and teach pottery-making techniques and traditions to the children from their village. 6 Although the vessels are now rarely used to store water, they continue to be indispensable receptacles of memory, signifying connections to land and ancestral knowledge — and signifying hope for future generations. Ruha Fifita Endnotes 1 David Barnes, ‘Traditional Fijian Art’, Fiji Guide , <https://fijiguide.com/ culture/traditional-fijian-art/#.YMlPrL7itdg>, viewed January 2021. 2 Paulina Maraia, interview with the author, 11 June 2021. 3 Maraia, interview with the author, 10 August 2019. 4 Maraia, interview with the author, 10 August 2019. 5 Apenisa Bainivalu, interview with the author, 10 June 2021. 6 Rakabuta Niko Demo, interview with the author, 11 June 2021. Apenisa Bainivalu Born 1959, Mokani village, Tailevu Province, Fiji Lives and works in Nasilai village, Fiji Laweni Tekina Laiseane Born 1964, Naroi village, Lau Province, Fiji Lives and works in Nasilai village Veniana Maraia Paulina Born 1951, Nasilai village, Rewa Delta, Fiji Lives and works in Nasilai village