TEKS: Promoting & Safeguarding Biocultural Diversity Through the Arts in Northern Vanuatu

Text by Dely Roy Nalo and Thomas Dick | Photos by Cristina Panicali and Sarah Doyle, with contributions by Ham Maurice Joel, Augustin Leasley, and Len Jacob Tafau

Left: Volcano on Gaua, the largest and second most populous of the Banks Islands in Torba Province of Northern Vanuatu. Right: Kastom performers from Fanafo village, Espiritu Santo. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Traditional: Habits and ways built over the years that are flexible and change in relation to new circumstances and situations

Entertainment: An opportunity for the people to express and adjust, to adapt, safeguard kastom music and acts using contemporary arts in the face of overwhelming foreign influences

Kastom (custom): Practices that bind people together in relation to the land, their leaders, and the environment

Support: Using appropriate tools to promote and support positive kastom and traditional practices in ways that are respectful of our people

Preparing leaves for traditional dress for a performance at Lukaotem Gud Santo Festival in Luganville, Espiritu Santo. Photo: Cristina Panicali, 2013

In the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, over 130 different languages are spoken. With its population of approximately 263,000, this means Vanuatu has the highest rate of per capita linguistic diversity on the planet. For many people in Vanuatu, one of these languages is the first language that they learn from their mother. These languages — and the knowledge and practices that they represent and articulate — are important expressions of cultural diversity. As the cash economy penetrates deeper and deeper into the islands of Vanuatu, communities are identifying the need for alternative, locally based approaches to the promotion and preservation of important traditional wisdom practices — including dances, music, songs, and stories — and connecting these with contemporary music and dance.

One of the ways that communities in Vanuatu are responding is through the Traditional Entertainment and Kastom Support (TEKS) unit of Further Arts — a local NGO working with communities on arts and cultural projects. Dely Roy, an Indigenous woman of Vanuatu and Kiribati descent, founded TEKS in 2011. Dely conceived TEKS to provide space and equal opportunity for traditional performers to express and showcase their artistic talents in a local cultural festival on Espiritu Santo Island in northern Vanuatu. At the same time, TEKS also provides support to practitioners of kastom and those communities that safeguard its values.

Left: A traditional performer from Gaua blows the conch shell at the opening ceremony of Singaot Musik Kamp, Espiritu Santo. Right: A Leweton Cultural Village performer, Charlie, playing the bush bass at Lukaotem Gud Santo Festival in Luganville, Espiritu Santo. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Dely speaks fluent English, French, and the local creole Bislama (the lingua franca of Vanuatu) in addition to her father’s vernacular language, Mwerlap. She says: “I feel that I understand enough about diverse Vanuatu cultures and that I have a reasonable understanding of many foreign cultures. I created TEKS as a unit to serve as a bridge between the different conceptual worlds.”

TEKS supports a range of traditional wisdom practices such as dances, music, songs, stories, carving, weaving, painting, drawing, and fabric art. There are two principal ways that TEKS engages with communities to support these activities: firstly, by assisting village groups to organize and host Mini Arts Festivals (MAFs); and secondly, by documenting these MAFs through co-produced audiovisual content in vernacular languages.

Dancing at the opening ceremony of Singaot Musik Kamp, Espiritu Santo. Photo: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Dely explains that her “idea is that if each culture can understand or at the very least acknowledge each other, a platform can be set for mutual respect.” TEKS aspires to be there to facilitate that platform and foster the connections.

At the time of preparing this photo essay (March 2015), Vanuatu was severely hit by a tropical cyclone, which affected more than seventy percent of the population through the destruction of ninety percent of homes, gardens and infrastructure. Many people were left without adequate shelter, food, and safe drinking water. The Further Arts office was completely destroyed along with most of the equipment in it. Without the office facility to provide stability to TEKS, its work with communities, local youth, artists, and musicians is unlikely to continue. All the communities that TEKS works with are in the process of rebuilding their lives but need as much support as possible to restore healthy cultural and lifestyle practices. People wishing to donate for the reconstruction of Further Arts and TEKS initiatives can do so at http://furtherarts.org

Left: Women kastom performers at the Salav Festival in Namasari village, Gaua. Right: Lily Weul, leader of the Salap women’s water music group, Gaua. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Children performing na-Mag kastom dance at the Salav Festival in Namasari village, Gaua. Photo: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Village in Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone PAM passed through on March 13–14 2015. Photo: Sarah Doyle, 2015

Left: Musicians from around Vanuatu and the Pacific came together under TEKS leadership during the phenomenal Singaot Musik Kamp, Espiritu Santo. Right: Musicians from Pacific and African countries shaking hands at the welcoming ceremony of Singaot Musik Kamp, Espiritu Santo. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Left: Tokbor mask at the Salav Festival in Namasari village, Gaua. Middle: Men performing ‘Bigfala tamtam’ kastom dance at the Salav Festival in Namasari village, Gaua. Right: Children entering the nasara (ceremonial dancing grounds) at the Salav Festival in Namasari village, Gaua. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Left: Life in Fanafo village, Espiritu Santo. Right: Yankee Stevens carrying a banana tree for a child’s kastom ceremony at the Fanafo Indigenous Kastom Day, Fanafo Village, Espiritu Santo. Photos: Sarah Doyle, 2014

Left: A ceremony for a newborn child at the Fanafo Indigenous Kastom Day in Fanafo, Espiritu Santo. Photo: Sarah Doyle, 2014. Right: Children painting in Chapuis, Espiritu Santo, inspired by their cultural identities and traditions during the Creative Arts Pikinini workshop. Photo: Augustin Leasley, 2015

Participants of the ‘Niu Saon mo Kalja’ camp hosted by TEKS in Mon Exil, Espiritu Santo Island with the artistic leadership of Horomona Horo (a Maori Tuhunga). Photos: Len Jacob Tafau, 2015

Left: Merion Roul of Namasari village showing a photo from over 40 years ago, of a woman standing outside a woman’s nakamal (a sacred meeting place) with signs of women’s’ kastom grading (rank) painted with unique local designs, Gaua. Right: Bese Rotua of Namasari village holding a sign of her kastom grading (rank), Gaua. Photos: Cristina Panicali, 2013

Left: Dely Roy Nalo, founder and leader of TEKS unit: “I face enormous challenges in my work as a female, but I am committed and passionate about ensuring that the voices and stories of both men and women are heard to strengthen harmony and respect between people as a foundational value.” Photo: Cristina Panicali, 2013. Right: Villages in Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone PAM passed through on March 13–14, 2015. Photo: Sarah Doyle, 2015

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Thomas Dick is the founder and current chairman of Further Arts, an NGO based in Port Vila, Vanuatu that works with local communities on arts and cultural projects. Further Arts’ main objective is to empower Ni-Vanuatu to develop long-term social and commercial enterprises in the industries of creative arts, agriculture, and communications that are culturally, socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable. Read more from Thomas Dick.

Cristina Panicali is a prize-winning freelance photographer based in Italy. She has been traveling through Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania to tell photo stories on socio-cultural and environmental issues. In 2012–2013 she was in Vanuatu to document the “Music Bridges” project, a music and culture exchange among musicians from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

Sarah Doyle is manager and a photographer of Further Arts’ Nesar Studio in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The word “nesar” (from one of the vernacular languages of Vanuatu) refers to the place where all custom ceremonies and dances are performed. It also refers to an area where chiefs, mothers, and youth can meet to discuss village affairs. It’s the area where the traditional arts are carried out.

Dely Roy Nalo is a visual artist and cultural fieldworker based in Luganville, Espiritu Santo Island. She works with rural and remote communities on cultural and artistic initiatives through her project TEKS. She has gained recognition for TEKS at local and national levels and continues to expand its international network of cultural artists and professionals.

TEKS: Promoting & Safeguarding Biocultural Diversity Through the Arts in Northern Vanuatu

Text by Dely Roy Nalo and Thomas Dick | Photos by Cristina Panicali and Sarah Doyle, with contributions by Ham Maurice Joel, Augustin Leasley, and Len Jacob Tafau

Further Reading

PDF – Langscape 13

Print – Langscape 13

PDF – Langscape 12

Print – Langscape 12