Pacific Art Festival London 2021
Contemporary Pacific Voices on Arts, Culture and the Natural Environment
A celebration of Pacific arts and culture in the lead up to COP26, a three-week festival (9-30 October 2021) is being produced by Pacific Island Artists Connection and hosted by the iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields in London’s Trafalgar Square. This inaugural event brings together communities from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea who are based in the Pacific region as well as in the UK’s large Pacific diaspora.
The festival is free to enter and includes an art exhibition curated by the talented Sulu Daunivalu (Director, Museum of Pacific & Oceanic Art, Latvia), heritage arts and products, panel discussions, interactive activities and more.
Showcasing both heritage and contemporary arts, including a wide variety of visual art that has never been on show before now, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey across the Pacific region whilst highlighting the impact climate change is having on these small island nations and how Pacific communities are fighting back. Many of the works on display will be for sale and this income will directly assist Pacific Islanders who have been so badly affected by the COVID pandemic. A selection of artists showing in the exhibition include Nicolai Michoutouchkine, Irami Buli, John Danger and Robert Kua.
Events such as panel discussions focusing on Pacific arts, culture and the impacts of climate change in the region will be taking place throughout the three weeks and will be live streamed with Fiji. Additionally, UK-based Pacific Island communities will be on site selling handmade Fijian products – perfect for Christmas gifts.
Fiji-based dance company VOU Fiji will be performing an updated version of their award winning 2016 piece ‘Are We Stronger Than Winston?’ to mark the opening of the festival on Saturday 9th October. Choreographed by VOU’s Navi Fong after Fiji was devastated by category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston in February 2016, the piece has been redeveloped by Fong to incorporate current conversations on climate change and climate action. This performance via live stream from Fiji will be the world premiere of this reimagined innovative and emotive work.
All event updates will be posted at Pacific Art Festival London 2021: 9th October – 30th October | Facebook. The exhibition will also be online from Saturday 9th October. The web address will be released in the week before the exhibition opens. Any purchases of art displayed in the exhibition must be made from this website; the only sales taking place at the festival venue will be the handmade Fijian products being sold by community members.
The festival is being produced and curated by Sulu Daunivalu, Katrina Talei Igglesden and Vanessa Eden.
Notes:
Venue: St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ
Dates: 9th – 23rd October 2021
Exhibition Hours: 12pm – 5pm, daily
Heartedge hosted panels
Thursday 21st October – online 10am BST, 9pm Fiji Time; Making UK Connections: Voices of the Pacific: Pacific arts and culture
A panel of artists and performers talk about Pacific arts and culture plus the impact climate change has had on artist livelihoods in the Pacific
Thursday 28th October – online 10am BST, 9pm Fiji Time; Making UK Connections: Voices of the Pacific: New solidarity-our faiths
A panel of faith and climate mitigation leaders discuss what Pacific Island communities most need from COP26 and how communities of faith can connect anew to amplify the calls for urgent action
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