ONO’U Tahiti – Murals from the Raiatea 2016 Edition

October 12, 2017 Artists

This week BSA takes you to the French Polynesian Islands to see the new murals going up for this tropical island cultural festival called ONO’U Tahiti 2017. We’re happy to bring you the daily events and the insights as we discover them.

As we were scouting around the island of Raiatea with Martha Cooper and Selina Miles and the artists watching the new murals going up for ONO’U Tahiti this week we thought we would collect the walls put up by artists in last year’s edition. To say that this island is picturesque isn’t enough praise, and that its inhabitants are friendly doesn’t capture the kindness – on this homeland of the Māori people that was/is called Havai’i.

Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the main township of the island called Uturos most of the 12,000 or so inhabitants live and many folks stop to watch the artists paint, asking questions, making observations to one another. In an environment like this the artists noticeably recalibrate their work to be be more relevant to the context, responsive to the people who live here and meaningful to the daily living of everyday.

Here are some shots of murals from 2016.

Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seth Globepainter. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inkie. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Charles Williams . AskewOne. ONO’U Tahiti 2016. Raiatea, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The text reads “I am the seed scattered from Havai’i”. Havai’i is the traditional name of Raiatea. Askew One writes about the wall on his blog:

“On first visiting the wall it struck Charles & Janine Williams that it had the shape of a Wharenui (Māori meeting house) and the vacant lot in relation was like the grounds of a Marae. Charles had the idea to take the Māori proverb featured in the Tupaia documentary which was ‘He kakano ahau, ruia mai I Rāngiatea’ or ‘I am a seed scattered from Rai’ātea’ in english. After consulting with Viliamu we got the Maohi (Tahitian) translation which read ‘E heuro puehu vau no te fenua Rai’ātea” and then after further advice from many locals we changed Rai’ātea to Havai’i – the islands original name. Janine took on the task of painting the text onto the wall.”