It was in 2020 that celebrated Samoan artist, poet and educator, Mrs Papali’i Momoe Pomona Malietoa von Reiche (hereafter referred to as ‘Momoe’) invited me, an Australian artist-researcher, to assist her with illustrating a book on Samoa’s tala le vavau (ancient stories), and to research this process. We had previously worked together on a smaller project, a bilingual children’s book, titled O le Pusi Peti – The Fat Cat, and it was through this experience that our interest in intercultural arts practice grew.
Responding to Momoe’s invitation, the research aimed to highlight the work being done to support cultural enrichment in Samoa, as well as the preservation of Samoa’s rich cultural heritage.
The research, which is yet to be completed, also provided an opportunity to explore the nature and function of intercultural illustrative practice, transforming the scope of contemporary illustration.
Performed across and between cultures, the burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of intercultural arts explores the role creative and artistic activity may play in celebrating cultural diversity while facilitating deeper cultural understanding and human connection (Burnard, 2019). Deeply rooted within diverse cultural, historical, and social contexts, creative and artistic practices emerge in varied and unique ways. Apart from showcasing myriad forms of expression and utility, creative practices may transcend language barriers, serving as non-discursive mediums through which cultures and intercultural relations may be more widely investigated and understood. The Routledge International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research (Burnard et al., 2016) is the first Euro-American text that brings together a breadth of literature from around the world to investigate the meaning of intercultural arts and how it is performed within various contexts. While several creative and artistic practices are featured, contemporary illustration is not included, and, at present, there is still not a lot documented about illustrative practices performed within intercultural settings.
As a socially embedded, contextually responsive practice, illustration may serve important connective, communicative, aesthetic, educative, and commentative functions within societies. When performed within intercultural settings, these functions may be extended in countless ways, such as through connecting audiences to unfamiliar stories, ideas, and worldviews, or through destabilising Eurocentric perspectives within postcolonial Indigenous communities. Apart from achieving various practical aims and objectives, researching the nature of such practice may help towards developing a wider understanding of the intercultural arts field, expanding its various forms and functions.
Guided by Momoe, our work in Samoa rested primarily within the vā, defined as ‘the sacred spiritual and social spaces’ (Anae, 2019). Central to Samoan’s view of the world (Tagaloa, 2008), the vā is far-reaching, covering the space between people, the natural environment and the cosmos, as well as the space between ancestors and the Gods (Seiuli, 2013; Tagaloa, 2008).
As Wendt (1996) explains, the vā is ‘not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things’ (para. 14).
Understanding the vā carries an ethical responsibility to teu le vā, to nurture or care for the sacred relational spaces (Anae, 2016). My developing awareness of the vā, and dedication towards teu le vā, directly informed my intercultural relationship with Momoe and ultimately helped to shape the chosen research question: How might creative practice emerge within intercultural illustrative practice in Samoa?
Although intentionally quite broad, the question centred on the vā, the relational space Momoe and I shared, from which creative practice emerged. An exploration into this emergence helped to uncover various intercultural complexities and relational responsibilities characteristic of such practice when performed in Samoa. Ultimately, in maintaining the vā, both practice and research were seen for their ability to provide tautua (service) to the people of Samoa.
The term creative practice was chosen to reflect the wide range of artistic works created to support and inform the intercultural illustrative process. As intercultural arts practitioners know, art is not a universal language (Burnard et al., 2016; Harvey et al., 2022). The term creative practice, therefore, also supported a need for me to re-conceptualise illustrative practice in Samoa, a context where creative and customary practices have existed for centuries, well before Western art movements, and where artistic and cultural activities are deeply integrated.
Research methods were chosen for their ability to responsively support the work Momoe and I were doing together. Practice-based research and the popular Pacific research method, Talanoa, were identified to achieve this purpose. As a non-traditional Western research method, recognised for its participatory nature (Gremillion et al., 2021; Hammond et al., 2018), practice-based research proved useful in exploring and capturing the complexities of our intercultural illustrative practice. Talanoa, a particular method of conversational dialogue embedded in Samoan epistemology (Matapo & Enari, 2021), helped to ground the practice within the Samoan context.
Starting with Momoe’s invitation and moving through to the presentation of the finalised illustrative works, the research critically analysed each stage of the intercultural illustrative process. Talanoa was performed with seven cultural experts as part of this process.
Apart from providing a deeper understanding of the connection that each expert held with the ancient stories, the dialogues underscored the role these stories play in retaining cultural connection and identity.
This is a clear concern for many Samoans in a time of rapid change driven by the effects of globalisation. Supporting the illustrative process further, sample illustrations were presented to the experts who provided their feedback.
Though not yet complete, research findings have so far helped to reveal an in-depth understanding of intercultural illustrative practice and its unique capacity to raise cultural awareness while facilitating intercultural dialogue and understanding. The visual communication of Samoa’s ancient stories has demonstrated the function such illustrative practice may serve in connecting with and supporting Samoa’s narrative traditions while also acting to maintain Samoa’s rich cultural heritage.
References
Anae, M. (2016). Teu le va: Samoan relational ethics. Knowledge Cultures, 4(03), 117-130.
Anae, M. (2019). Pacific research methodologies and relational ethics. Oxford research encyclopedia of education. https://oxfordre.com/education/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-529
Burnard, P. (2019). Intercultural arts. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.38
Burnard, P., Mackinlay, E., & Powell, K. A. (2016). The Routledge international handbook of intercultural arts research. Routledge.
Gremillion, H., Tominiko, F., & Hallie, J. (2021). The scope of talanoa research methodology: The place of research methods that are not rooted in Pasifika traditions. Unitec Research Symposium Proceedings 2020,
Hammond, C., Gifford, W., Thomas, R., Rabaa, S., Thomas, O., & Domecq, M.-C. (2018). Arts-based research methods with indigenous peoples: an international scoping review. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(3), 260-276.
Harvey, L., Tordzro, G., & Bradley, J. (2022). Beyond and besides language: intercultural communication and creative practice. Language and Intercultural Communication, 22(2), 103-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2022.2049114
Matapo, J., & Enari, D. (2021). Re-imagining the dialogic spaces of talanoa through Samoan onto-epistemology. Waikato Journal of education, 26, 79-88.
Seiuli, B. M. S. (2013). Counselling psychology from a Samoan perspective. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 42(3), 50-58.
Tagaloa, M. P. (2008). Tafesilafa’i: Towards a Samoan epistemology in the diaspora Claremont School of Theology]. Claremont, California.
Wendt, A. (1996). Tatauing the post-colonial body. Span, 42-43, 15-29. https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/wendt/tatauing.asp
Adrian Harris is a PhD candidate in Charles Darwin University’s Faculty of Arts and Society. He is a practicing artist and freelance designer with a background in clinical and community-based art therapy, disability advocacy, and education. His current research interests are focused on collaborative arts-based practices within intercultural settings. Adrian holds a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) from the University of the Newcastle, a Master of Social Work from James Cook University, and a Master of Creative Arts Therapy from RMIT University. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.
Main image: Adrian Harris in collaboration with Mrs Momoe von Reiche, Āoa Lala and Gao Gao Ole Tai Populate the Sea (Detail)