False Divides: 2018

Description

'While we may talk back to the empire, we can't talk to each other.' Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa is the great ocean continent. While it is common to understand the ocean as something that divides land, for those Indigenous to the Pacific or the Moana, it was traditionally a connector and an ancestor. Imperialism in the Moana, however, created false divides between islands and separated their peoples. In this BWB Text, Lana Lopesi argues that globalising technologies and the adaptability of Moana peoples are now turning the ocean back into the unifying continent that it once was.

Lana Lopesi is a critic of art and culture based in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. Lana's writing has featured in a number of publications in print and online as well as in numerous artist and exhibition catalogues. Lana is currently the Editor-in-Chief for The Pantograph Punch and was Founding Editor of #500words.