A Tribute to my People who… Camona Banana Boat

Picture above is a work by artist Siliga David Setoga. Source: http://www.popohardwear.com/shop/popohardwear-t-shirts/25-a-tribute-to-my-people-who-came-on-a-banana-boat.html

I wasn’t prepared to be confronted by my naivety this morning. I realise that I have subconsciously cultivated an idealised notion of New Zealand as a place of platonic relations. This morning, artist Siliga David Setoga (David) exposed for me the long existing prejudices held by our people through the powerful iconography of banana boxes; an object synonymous with the process of packing up and moving elsewhere. David uses the banana box to embody the experiences of Samoans who came to New Zealand in the 1960s to fill job vacancies but were later made the scapegoat of the economic decline. Samoan migrants moved to New Zealand but were exploited for their functional means (in the way of labour) and were then discarded of – just like a used banana box.

This theme of cultural and socio-economic disparity within a nation is also present in the work of photographer Henry Hargreaves in his series “Power Hungry.” Through these images, Hargreaves exposes how ‘power imbalances play out in food’ ¹ by way of juxtaposing two extremes of diet within society; the affluent and the social minority. With a similar artistic approach to David, Hargreaves uses food to highlight inequalities across social groups within a nation.

To think that Pasifika peoples came to our country in search of a new beginning but were then abused by the dominant culture makes my blood boil! I’m glad to have witnessed David’s art as a powerful reminder that these tensions still exist in our country.