From the Resene News – issue 3/2009

Mural with a voice - Mama Hanua mural

Bringing arts to the islands is key to the Wasawasa festival, a week long festival of artistic activities developed and created by Fijian youth, artists, organisational partners and members of the community.

The Fiji Arts Council and the United States Embassy Cultural Envoy Program selected the visual artist, Michelle Angela Ortiz, to work with the Fijian community through a residency during the First Annual Wasawasa Festival of the Oceans in Suva, Fiji.

Entirely finished in Resene paints, the mural entitled “Mama Hanua” (120 x 480 m), which reflects women as offering strength, protection, life and beauty. was created in six days during the Wasawasa festival of Oceans at Thurston Gardens/Fiji Museum.

The Fiji Arts Council program entitled "Breaking Barriers" is dedicated to developing and empowering Fijian people towards a better quality of life through the arts. The objective of the program is also to mentor participants into professional pathways that lead toward fulfilling lives. The Wasawasa festival provided us with an opportunity to reach many people and show that art is not a recreational activity... art is a means of communication and a way of documenting the voices of the community.

The first of its kind in the islands, the residency was made possible by the US Embassy Cultural Envoy Program, Fiji Arts Council, National Trust of Fiji, and the Fiji Museum and the mural creation was assisted by Rohm and Haas Company (Philadelphia) and Resene Paints (Suva, Fiji).

www.michelleangela.com

 
Products in Action
View hundreds of case studies of Resene products used on projects all over New Zealand and Australia.

Case Studies - Resene News Archive