KAWAKI and Dreamcast Theatre
KAWAKI
Established 2016, Arnavon Islands, Solomon Islands
Lavinia Pupuru Denson (Lead Artist for women of Katupika), b.1977, Solomon Islands / Tracy Agnes Lamana (Lead Artist for women of Kia), b.1986, Solomon Islands / Dilly Nadariko Maezama (Lead Artist for women of Kia), b.1983, Solomon Islands / Indy Oreba Mereki (Lead Artist for women of Wagina Island), b.1988, Solomon Islands / Mone Rimon Patrick (Lead Artist for women of Wagina Island), b.1974, Solomon Islands / Margery Abuofa Zesapa (Lead Artist for women of Katupika), b.1993, Solomon Islands
Live and work across Katupika, Wagina and Kia villages
Dreamcast Theatre
Established 2006, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Zhayjay Jnr Campion, b.1996, Honiara / Kris Mana, b.1997, Honiara / Neil Nuia, b.1988, Honiara / Gillian Oti, b.1986, Honiara / Ivan Utahenua, b.1990, Honiara / Willard West, b.2002, Honiara
Live and work in Honiara
For the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial, two Solomon Islands collectives present multidisciplinary collaborations. KAWAKI is a women’s collective, with members drawn from the communities of Katupika, Wagina and Kia to participate in decisions around the management of a community-led conservation park in the Arnavon Islands. Dreamcast Theatre is a collective based in Honiara, with members working across a broad spectrum of the arts, from music and theatre to filmmaking and visual arts.
KAWAKI and Dreamcast Theatre have collaborated on an immersive audio-visual environment for the Triennial, to be activated over the opening weekend by a performance. Kuza Ni Tege presents three natural resources that are vital to the existence of the KAWAKI communities and their distinctive cultural practices: Kuza is the bark of a tree threatened by logging in Katupika; Te Ni is the coconut tree, of which every part is used by the Wagina community; and Tege references the journey of endangered turtles to the Arnavon Islands.
This project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Office for the Arts, part of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and QAGOMA’s Oceania Women’s Fund. (The project) is a collaboration between Dreamcast Theatre, Kawaki Women Collective and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art for APT11, with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy.