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An Ivory Connection

Though as many as seven different symbols were developed for use by the museum in various galleries and exhibitions halls, it was finally decided that the sperm whale's tooth necklace would become the sumbol used to represent the museum in general. Initially met with some resistance and concern for sensitivitiy to the large Indo-FIjian population who might see this as being "too Pacific" or "too Fijian" in its imagery, the challenge faced here was to justify it in terms of all the cultures who might call Fiji home while still maintaining the "Pacific" look that the tourists would recognize.

It became clear that the connection was in the use of ivory. Prized by all the cultures of the Pacific, whether the ivory was from elephants, walruses ro whales, it was ivory that was a common treasure among all of these cultures. Once justified in this manner, the symbol was happily accepted by various ethnic community representatives and endorsed wholly by the Board of Trustees for implementation.

The Punch line

So what ever happened to that American woman graphic artist who used to be from New York? Not a lot. Except that her husband and children also made their adaptations to life in Fiji. Her children did not miss the thrust of commercial television upon their lives, her oldest having to ask a newly arrived American what a "smurf" was. Her contractor husband dealt with a similar array of challenges in building their tropical island home, often importing or manufacturing himself what he needed to get the job done well.

For this graphic artist and her family, life in Fiji meant an incredible lesson in resourcefulness. Without the "instant comfort" and availability of so many "state of the art" resources that we took for granted, we discovered the ability to depend upon that resourcefulness that resides deep within, to makde do with less, to make beautiful and meaningful design within the limitations of the resources there and finding that they were not limitations afterall, but new challenges that could be met and surpassed in exciting and creative ways. The native Fijians as well as the Indo-Fijian population have often exhibited that resourcefulness in many ways giving inspiration to what results can be achieved when we add our own brand of knowledge. The end results are every bit as exciting.

We have taken this experience and resourcefulness to a part of USA where the cultural adaptation has been equally as challenging. Now living near Flint, Michigan, in an area surrounded by automative factories rather than tropical islands, I have taken up the challenge of developing a new graphic design program at Mott Community College in their Fine Arts Division. Incorporated into this program is an inherent emphasis on communication in a multi-cultural community.

During my last two years in Fiji, there were still the continuous challenges of printers who made "nice for you" by not following instructions, dealing with overseas suppliers who prefered not to leave their comfortable shores for a little business in tiny Fiji, even by fax, and the various attempts to keep ahead of the molds that grew on my computer disks and video tapes in the nearly 95 percent humidity. Cyclones were only an occasional visitor, providing a rare change to the normal 40 inch annual rainfall.

Swatting mozzies (mosquitos), and reading the latest (six-month-old) issue of PRINT magazine that arrived, the former New Yorker managed to complete a 280 pp visual dictionary of Pacific (mostly Fijian) symbols. Titled "Symbols & Patterns of Grassroots Culture in the Fiji Islands", I hope to someday add it to this website for easier access by others interested in communicating across cultures. This was all in an effort to make it easier for the next graphic artist or communicator who decides to leave the rat-race to work in a tropical island paradise. Something more of a learning experience than it may at first appear from the outside.

Warclub, Fiji Museum