In Wikipedia the definition of Hawaiiana is, "Hawaiiana is a popular term used in reference to history and various aspects of the culture of Hawai'i, currently a region and state of the United States. The term is used especially in reflection of the periods of antiquity and the Kingdom of Hawai'i era. Hawaiiana has become increasingly popular among students of history and sociology throughout the world" For alot of the world Hawaii represents Polynesia and Oceania, the Pacific Islands. It also represents the ideal American beach destination, a tourist's paradise. Tiki Lounge is a suburban variation on the island paradise, accessible in public bars and private patio decor. Tiki himself is a deity in Polynesia, representing the first human, but also the first being to separate heaven from earth. The idea of Tiki as lounge decor is a little bit like using the image of the Christian cross to sell beer and potato chips. Hawaiiana also represents Western hegemony and military imperialism in the Pacific, because it erases the narratives of Pacific Islands culture and replicates it in the narrative of American paradise.
(1) Hula Doll on wheels is a spinning toy of a hula dancer about the size of a Barbie Doll, but dark skinned, with long hair and in a grass skirt. The grass skirt came to Hawaii when King Kalakaua invited islanders from Kiribati to build up the Hawaiian population, the majority having recently died from diseases brought in by Westerners.
(2) Small hula dancer in a plastic box, probably an airport souvenir. Long hair for women was introduced by the missionaries, before that islander men tended to have long hair and women short hair, so it was a missionary mandated custom.
(3) Pineapple dish. After the majority of Hawaiians died of Western diseases the missionaries took over most of the land. One of the missionary families, the Dole family, imported the pineapple.
(4) Tiki Lounge t-shirt with slogan in the back, "Get your freak on in the Tiki Lounge" with an image of a hula dancer. The hula is a sacred dance, it encorporates aspects of the erotic, but it is mostly a form of narrative story telling, which is lost to people who cannot understand Hawaiian and are only interested in Hawaiiana.
(5) Nylon stocking: to me this represents the stomach of the tourist in paradise who eats up customs and regurgitates and defecates their own meaning.
(6) Drawing of tourist eating islander child #1
(7) Drawing of tourist eating islander child #2
(8) Money lei made of cash.
(9) This text expanded.
(10) A background of Tiki Lounge imagery.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think you already have an interesting research topic as material to make a work. The key for you is to figure out how to use such a familiar image of kitsch culture and make a work that critiques the history and forces that made this stereotype. Your work should be a critical meditation on American culture and it's relationship with the "other."
ReplyDelete