Arts of Vanuatu

Art of Vanuatu has evolved from being a traditional art form to contemporary art over a long period of time. The inhabitants of more than 80 islands that make up Vanuatu were from different cultures. Thus, they have created distinctive designs, models and forms inspired from their daily lives and the physical, social and spiritual environment they live in.

Many of these designs or art forms were an integral part of their rituals that takes place from an individual's birth until his death. While some art motifs were detailed insignias of their identity, which literally told complex narratives linking people to lineage, time and place. Other creative gestures were simply evolved from a story, passing the time or the urge to leave one's mark beyond one's lifetime. Many of these designs or forms have become synonymous with different lineages, regions and islands in Vanuatu.

The art of present times in Vanuatu is based on almost similar principles. Contemporary art is perhaps distinguishable from traditional art only in terms of the wider range of mediums used and the sources of inspiration and motivation for creative expression.  Although the tradition of contemporary art in Vanuatu has its origins in the drawings and paintings of the colonial settlers and European visitors to these islands, the contemporary art scene in Vanuatu today features a prominent Ni-Vanuatu as well as expatriate presence.  The contemporary art in Vanuatu is perhaps uniquely placed to provide an ongoing representation of life in a country in which the latest Western technology co-exists with a living and vital Melanesian spirituality.

Carving is a traditional art of Vanuatu and there are many fine painters, weavers and potters. Art of tattooing is quite fashionable and prominent in the islands of Vanuatu. Almost every individual has some part or the other of his body tattooed with a few black dots or lines. The technique is known everywhere but only practiced regularly in a few districts. Only in a few districts has tattooing become a definite art with special designs, and it is only there that it is proper to speak of tattooing in the proper sense.

By: Shuchita Bist     

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