This week BSA is checking out French Polynesia to get an appreciation for the Street Art, graffiti and street scene here while the 5th Annual ONO’U is taking place. Join in the tropical action while we take you to Tahiti, Raiatea, Bora Bora, and Moorea to see the artists and the action.
Feeling blue in Tahiti even though you are surrounded by banana, mango, papaya, coconut, and pomegranate trees each offering the wild fruits of the island? Impossible.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Yes, you are blue if you are one of Cranio’s characters, who remind us with a jolt that indigenous people of many shapes, sizes, and costume traveled and organized life on this earth long before we arrived.
With many ties to traditional costume and customs despite French Polynesia’s history of colonization, we have witnessed that there is an evident level of respect for native ways here across these islands as well.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
With bright blue guys that have red eye bands across the face, these characters were originally based on indigenous people from his native Brazil and Cranio brings them with him wherever he goes to city streets, galleries, museums, and private collections throughout the world. Appearing suddenly on the street, he places them in curious situations that personify the cultural confusion that happens in the contemporary world that hasn’t allowed for traditional ways.
Here in Raiatea he converts a set of double doors into the entryway to a tree trunk, a fantasy world that you want to be true. Painting for two decades, Cranio’s semi-surreal settings have an adventurer’s sense of play for his blue buddies to explore and cavort in – yet they gently/pointedly poke fun at social, political and environmental weaknesses in the Euro-centric world.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio with Charles Williams on the background. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
New York is resting pleasantly under a nice blanket of our first snow this morning. Your moaning Uncle Norman is lying on the living room rug next to the radiator with an icepack on his back fro...
Strøk! If you can say it you should shout it! And you’ll have to shout it if you want Street Artist Anders Gjennestad to hear you from his perch 60 meters high above you upon the The Victory Column. ...
Not that you can ever hope to compete with the Alps… When you live in such a picturesque town like Briançon, France, your daily existence includes its grandeur. Perhaps that is why Medianeras chos...
“Yes, I’m an infowarrior,” says the African American yelling about how CNN is promoting Sharia Law in downtown Manhattan for the #MarchAgainstSharia and a short distance away someone is wrapping the...
When you have a minute, it’s good to stretch your legs and walk through your neighborhood to see the hot spots for graffiti and street art periodically because the local artists often like to re-fres...