By Kaetaeta Watson and Louisa Humprhy.
‘Art’ is not our word, it is foreign because we do not have a word for ‘art’ in Kiribati. Everything we ‘made/make’ was functional and made for a purpose so therefore the concept of ‘art’ is very different. We have a Kiribati word which is Te Rabakau – which means ‘knowledge’ – knowledge taught to me by my mother, by my grandmother and which I am therefore responsible for passing on to others including our children and our community. It is knowledge that is shared that I then have to practice and to refine the skill of. Yet still, it is so much more than that – it is my Kiribati culture, it is Kiribati pride, it stirs within and throughout me as an iKiribati person – it is a gift. Read more