The word ‘Rarama’ is i’Taukei for ‘lit up with light’ as opposed to the darkness of the surroundings. Coincidentally the word is also composed of two names of gods – ‘ Ra’, the sun god of ancient Egypt and Lord ‘Rama’ a major deity in Hinduism.
These words on light and gods inspired the name of Rarama Art Festival, curated by Jane Ren-Seam, wife of the European Ambassador for the Pacific, Sujiro Seam. Ms Ren-Seam staged the amazing exhibition to encapsulate cultural art, film and theatre, art and sports, music, dance and vocal art.
The theme of the exhibition is ‘new day’ infused with celebration, happiness, vibrance – words that epitomise ‘rarama’ and contrasts with the problems we’ve faced over the past few years.
“I have been working as a curator for many years and I started my art career as a gallerist so I have some experience in the art field,” Ms RenSeam said.
“Ever since my husband was posted here as a diplomat (2017) I decided to help the local art scene. In 2019 I had curated contemporary art exhibition for about 13 to 17 local artists and from then on we always had this idea of doing another one.
“But COVID-19 came and postponed those plans but at the beginning of this year we had more possibilities to plan out another show. “Some local artists approached me saying ‘okay we heard that you’ll be going next year’ and asked if I could do a big exhibition.”
Around the same time Ms Ren-Seam had another group of friends who wanted assistance with a film festival and with limited time to prepare for both, she decided to put everything under one big show.
“The opening night was amazing. When the program started we had the Pasifika Prima Voce team interpreting this song called Memory from the Musical Cats and that song mentions at the last verse, ‘look a new day has begun’,” Ms Ren-Seam said.
“So that was the theme of the Rarama Art Festival and also the theme for my own exhibition because I really wanted to recall upon the hope after the dark tunnel that we all went through. “We still have wars, we have some parents of children still on the battlefield and I just wanted to call for peace and hope.
“I hope that our world doesn’t forget art and imaginations in our heart, if we do then we cannot be thoughtful human beings.”
Ms Ren-Seam said Rarama was chosen as the name of the festival also because October this year commemorates two celebrations, the ‘Fijian Independence Day and Diwali.’
She said more than 100 submissions were received but due to galley space only 21 artists were selected by a jury of six people, including one international jury.
“All art submissions were selected anonymously so the jury didn’t know who the artists were because we wanted to avoid biased opinions,” she said.
The art exhibition had various themes and every artist had his or her own ‘language’ of storytelling.
“But a lot of them received a message from me ahead of time so they knew that I wanted to embrace the ‘light’.
“For this particular exhibition, it’s still reserved as art can be more provocative but for this time I thought that since we have been criticising so much during COVID-19, let’s just forget about this negativity a little bit.
“The youngest artists were the kids with visual impairments .They were encouraged to create art for the exhibition.”
Of the participating visually impaired children, some were totally blind members of the Fiji Society for the Blind and had been receiving art classes. Excitement buzzed amongst them when they knew how their art would be displayed.
Among the artists who exhibited their pieces was Maria Rova, a local and national award winning artist who has scooped yet another ‘Patrons Choice Award.’
Rova’s piece reflected on a healing journey painted with a mixed media comprising barkcloth, acrylic building paste and acrylic paint. Much of her current work is created using acrylics on traditional barkcloth, crafted by relatives living on the island of Vatulele.
“There are the seemingly safe confines of a tightly contained life, orderly, prescribed, keeping safely within what’s expected and approved joy and energy draining away, the monotony of living small… the veil of depression shrouds my world… is this all there is?,” Rova says in the description of her piece called ‘Breakthrough’.
“Then I choose light. I choose hope. I open my heart to the healing joy of creativity; it’s messy, risky, imperfect, fluid. But there is new life in all that: a chance to breath, re-imagine, push out from confining boundaries.”
For Rova, painting is her way of expressing the love she has for life and her respect for Fiji’s peculiar uniqueness.
With the fast-paced life that this century spawns, she says it can become easy to ignore the ‘beauty hidden’ around us’. In a midst of creative chaos at her family-run enterprise, Sigavou Studios, located just outside of Nadi, Maria can be found in her element of expression.
“My artwork seeks to rekindle in my own soul a sense of wonder in the small details of nature – the ordinary as well as the exotic.
“On a personal level, art has become a vehicle for exploring and celebrating that which gives meaning to my life, for helping me to find my way through all the ups and downs of day to day living in this amazing country, Fiji.
“On a wider level, I see art as a tool for nation-building – it has a dynamic role to play as a vehicle for empowerment through income-generation, as a means of strengthening identity in an ever-changing world, and as a positive channel of reaching out and communicating in our fragmented society.”
