Yup...does it seem a little like I'm drumming these guys' work into your head? cos I am! lol well, this is also another piece from the TiKKKi show called "Jesus Saves". Its pretty obvious what the painting is of...its Jesus, we know that. Whats the big deal? Well, he's carved as a Tiki for one thing. Also, I'm not entirely sure that too many people would appreciate this sort of depiction because it seems, dare I say it? "savage" and "primitive". Basically, its not the ideal image for portraying the son of God especially in a Western context. Jesus is supposed to appear solemn, loving, welcoming, basically everything a savior of the world is supposed to embody...Vida's "Jesus Saves" on the other hand, has what could be considered a sinister grin that seems to be turning into a snarl at times. The green flower print in the background seems to legitimize that it was created in the islands and the eyes seem to glow from their sockets and are without pupils, making them all the more...creepy, I guess. This is definitely not an image of a savior but rather a complete opposite I would say...Why then? Whats with the anti Jesus and Christianity theme with these two paintings from Sua and Vida? Maybe part of their struggle against the trivialization of Polynesian culture is to trivialize a sacred icon of Western religion themselves and in some way put them in our shoes..."a taste of their own medicine" as some would say.
I've had a very enlightening conversation about this with a dear friend of mine and I think there's definitely a line drawn when considering how far back we must take or reclaim our heritage and our culture...even our elders don't practice the religions or customs of ancient times so why then do some younger generation islanders feel it necessary to protest the West altogether along with religion? Not to say that this is the extent of Sua and Vida's message in their work but it is interesting to think about nonetheless...anyway, I think that topic needs a whole new thread of its own so I'm gonna go ahead and leave it there and call it a night
tu'a 'eiki 'ofa atu
2 comments:
I don't know if it's his intentions, but I def think there's something really that sort of seems "empowering" about taking back the culture, and then using it to diminish the culture of those who were already diminishing your culture for their own entertainment... Not saying it should be done, but there's just something about the whole concept of it...
i enjoy the art of the saints depicted from an island point of view (think st pierre chanel's painting from wallis&futuna), but not so much this. it's very clear as to who it's meant to depict, but maybe the message that's being sent is "hey..your Jesus is just about as authentic as those commercialized looking tikis at the bars". That's how I feel when I see it..it's created in an almost cartoonish fashion that seems to poke fun at the sacred.
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