Art has the unique capacity to stimulate individuals both intellectually and emotionally. And using the poetry genre for climate change campaign offers an enlightening experience that have the potential to re-energise and re-orientate our relationship to the natural world.
Raising awareness on climate change and its impacts through music, poetry, visual arts and storytelling is seen as an ideal medium in communicating the message.
“I’m grateful to have grown up in an environment where I am one with nature and this has cultivated an artistic imagination that has influenced my writing,” Imasango says matter-of-factly.
Imasango, a French poet from New Caledonia passionately shared her love for nature and her paean to creation.
“Poetry is a way of getting to know myself. It (poetry) came to me like a gift from mother nature. I am able to express myself through my writing,” she says.
Imasango’s recollection of her start in poetry writing furnishes a partial explanation for her performance with the local VOU dance group at the opening of the “Climate Change Adaptation in the South Pacific” conference at the University of the South Pacific in Suva two weeks ago. The conference was organised by the French Embassy in collaboration with the European Union’s funded PACE-SD at USP and SPC’s PacTVET program.
Imasango was the invited guest artist to the conference and through the French Embassy in Suva, she was able to share her love for poetry writing with students at International School, Alliance Française de Suva apart from performing at the weeklong conference.
A poetry slam on climate change was organised by local artistes at the end of the conference. The poetry slam offered a platform for poets and spoken word artists to create change and raise awareness through their writing.
Her poem and dance collaboration is a manifestation that using art as a vehicle to address climate change will leave any audience a lasting impression that can help change attitudes and behaviours.
“We identify well with visual arts, songs and dance performances because it is part of our Pacific culture and identity. We are natural storytellers. We can be spontaneous too,” she emphasised.
“The impacts of climate change is felt everywhere in the Pacific and we must work together to give the voiceless a voice in this fight.”
Although her poems are in her native French, a couple of poems have since been translated to Spanish and German. And her Fiji trip has given her enough inspiration to write in English. For the climate change conference, Imasango said she attempted to write 15 poems in English – an achievement, she says.
Imasango was 17 when she left New Caledonia to study literature in France. Her studies led her to other neighbouring European countries and to South America, where she continued to be enchanted by the richness in culture and art of each country.
“I like to take my time discovering a new place and in this process I get to know more about its people, culture, heritage and this is very important for me. I love coming across nature and I’m always on the lookout for it.”
Imasango realised this gift and love for poetry at a very young age. She fondly remembers spending her weekends at campsites and appreciating the wildlife.
“I’m from a middle class family and we spend a lot of our time camping. It brought us closer to nature and as children, we looked forward to these camping trips.
“I would spend most of my time climbing trees, swimming at rivers, chasing waterfalls and in the evenings, we would listen to the insects. And I can close my eyes wherever I am and can still hear the same sounds, whether I’m here in Suva, Noumea or Paris.
“And these experiences are reflected in my work. I write to make people happy, empowered and inspired by sharing my love for life in my poems. And this is very important to me. It is also my goal to remain positive in all my work.”
Imasango admitted that she felt at home, the moment she arrived in Fiji.
“I’m also grateful for the French Embassy for this opportunity to come to Fiji to share what I do and love doing here. It has been a very productive work trip for me.
“The enthusiasm is also encouraging and should be supported. I spent some time rehearsing with the VOU dance group and they are very professional. It was a pleasure working with them too,” she says.
And while in Fiji, Imasango managed a trip to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes. She wasted no time in turning her therapeutic sand dune experience to good use.
A week after she returned to New Caledonia, Imasango wrote a poem about the sand dunes that was auctioned at the recent charity fundraising dinner at the Shangri-La Resort. Her poem was eventually bought by Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi.
“I enjoy doing what I do and when I’m discovering a new place, I let my imagination take a lead and all these stories going through my mind and each one of them had a name and a concept. And this was how I felt when I was at the Sigatoka dunes. It is also therapeutic,” she says.
* Moira Vilsoni-Raduva is the public affairs adviser and communications officer at the Embassy of France in Suva.
