Indigenous iTaukei Worldview
Art, in a western framework is viewed in a museum or art gallery mostly credited to an individual, who is viewed as the sole creator. The physical space is strictly determined by a curator who is the expert of the exhibition concept. In comparison to the iTaukei way of looking at art, which is totally the opposite. Our art is communally owned, celebrated through ceremonies, songs and dances and worn on our bodies with tattooing, masi (tapa), and through our iTaukei Vosa Vakaviti or Fijian language.
Dr Tarisi Vunidilo
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Drua
This is a model of a Fijian drua, a double hulled sailing canoe. The Fijian drua was the largest and finest ocean-going vessel which could range up to 100 feet in length. They were made by highly skilled hereditary canoe builders and other specialist makers for the woven sail, coconut fibre sennit rope and paddles.
Commissioned and made by Alex Kennedy 2002, collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, FE011790.
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Dr Tarisi Vunidilo
Dr Tarisi Vunidilo
Tarisi is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, where she teaches courses on Indigenous museology and heritage management. Her current area of research is museology, repatriation and Indigenous knowledge and language revitalization.
Tarisi Vunidilo is originally from Fiji. Her father, Navitalai Sorovi and mother, Mereseini Sorovi are both from the island of Kadavu, Southern Fiji. Tarisi was born and educated in Suva.
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Indigenous iTaukei Worldview
Prepared by Dr. Tarisi Vunidilo