TAUTAI ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2013
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA ARTIST
JEAN MELESAINE
Article by Jean Melesaine
Image by Robert George
Auckland Pasifika artists and art community, you all have reminded me as I return back to California that when I fly over that ocean, they are the same waves my parents and my ancestors have had to navigate like another piece of life, and I mean that in a metaphorical sense.
You are all the prime example of how to maintain the heart of our parents and ancestors in a world that is evolving and at times can seem to try to deteriorate those pieces of ourselves. The last couple of weeks have been life-changing, and making me realise how old I am to reflect like this. My brain has never been so used, overanalyzing and reflecting.
On the last Saturday in Auckland, in a Manukau garage I was getting a tatau by an artist named Matt Stowers. He works out of a corner in a garage, had a photo of his children hanging on his wall. I asked him who took the photo and he told me he took it because he wanted his children to have a memory of themselves at that age of that moment. Matt never knew of Tautai but that's okay because we talked about art and design, meanings, Samoa. This is what I truly think of the experience of this residency, the informal experiences and moments that have happened during this residency through the connections and the interrelations through Tautai and through the artists even if some artists have never heard of Tautai.
Life connecting conversations for a couple of hours in a car with my artist mother Leanne, train rides to Papakura with Louisa talking about her dreams as a young artist, late night editing with Amiria, eating Wendy’s with Cora talking about life, hanging out with artist Ema Tavola, her partner and Leilani Kake as they tell me about community art projects until they pass out on the couch as Matt finishes my tattoo. These are examples of the great connections and moments that I've had including the many galleries and shows that I've had a chance to experience. I am returning grateful for all of you who inspire me to push Pasifika Arts in America farther than I have before. fa'afetai lava and hella alofa from the Bay Area
Falealili Uma In Oakland
by Jean Melesaine
Hearing you sing Samoan songs while I drive you, makes me glance a few seconds longer in my rearview mirror. I can taste my childhood all over again; smell the luau as I lick my pudgy fingers.
You can feel your words that have travelled so many years only for me to not know. You can touch the ocean with those words, taste the ancestors dripping her stories into your mouth except you’re not allowed to swallow them in this country but you do sometimes, secretly.
Sometimes in the backseat of a Toyota when I don't want to hear you tell me how to drive anymore in your broken English. So I play those songs you use to play for us as children because I know when the American dream sometimes steals your soul, sometimes force you to surrender your seeds to English, you can demand me to make a left and I'll know that it’s time to take you back home.