The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

to self-determination in the face of aggressive commercial interests, particularly mining and resource extraction, are also a recurrent thread, as in the work of artists such as Gunybi Ganambarr, Taloi Havini and Khvay Samnang. The ghost of Eddie Mabo and the historic performances staged at the High Court of Australia in Canberra for the landmark native title judgment in 1992 lie beneath the stunning landscape paintings of Meriam artist Segar Passi. 8 These contemporary articulations are far from the industry of ‘authentic’ entertainment one encounters in tourist resorts throughout Australia, Asia and the Pacific. Yumi Danis (We Dance), co-curated with Ni-Vanuatu songwriter, musician and author Marcel Meltherorong, brings together dancers and musicians from Papua, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Yumi Danis is a conscious response to issues of translation and the contextualisation of contemporary Pacific performance for a broader audience. It is staged as an immersive multimedia installation, animated throughout the duration of the exhibition with contemporary performances. 9 Working closely with Meltherorong, Kanak artist Nicolas Molé creates an installation through which visitors are transported, via image, sound and dance, to the lands of Papua and the Ring of Fire imagined and articulated by Meltherorong in his poetic writing on this project. 10 Visitors enter the space through the tangled roots of a banyan tree, found so often in the heart of a Melanesian village. With textured, woven matting underfoot, a path opens up in the form of a sand drawing design, which we must try to fathom and then follow to enter into this specific cultural realm. The darkened forest surrounding the village beckons; if we watch closely, we are rewarded with glimpses of animated animals, spirit figures and the villagers themselves as they watch us from this mysterious, darkened space. Yumi Danis (We Dance) participants, Emyo Tinyo Dance and Music Festival 2014, Ambrym, Vanuatu 1. Solomon Islands performance 2. Lucy Efi and Katalina Fotofili 3. Simane Wénéthem Photographs: Ruth McDougall 2 3 1 94—95 WHERE DOWE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?