Diary of a Travelling Harpist #2
I recently took a trip to Samoa, my mother’s homeland. This trip to Samoa was funded by Arts Queensland, for me as a Queensland-based Pacific artist to reconnect with my roots, allowing me to stand more strongly in place as I work with other nations and the Earth in my artistic practice which centres around Resonance.
Resonance is the idea that if all the world is vibration, then everything has a song, and I just love finding out about the songs of things.
Exploring the rugged south coast of Upolu with Lila, our guide Paulo, and a cute young dog who stayed with us the entire way, even running three kilometres after our car to catch up with us on our second site visit.
The Arts Queensland support prepares me for two large collaborative projects which I’ll explain for you. The first is Lila Meleisea’s ‘SA/MOA’, being created for Moonah Gallery as part of Ten Days on the Island in March 2025 (lutruwita/Tasmania).
On a first creative development, Lila and I had a guide from the Samoan Conservation Society show us through the forests. We did some resonance where we were able to ask permission from an elder tree before going into the forest, and truly, it made the experience palpably different. It was as if the whole forest knew we were coming, and we were welcomed.
Back in Tasmania, during a second creative development this December, I’ll guide my co-artists Lila, Grace Vanilau and Folole Tupuola in creating a resonance soundtrack from trees and items such as our traditional bark cloth. Some of these bark cloths are very old and will be brought out from Tasmanian museum collections. I wonder what they sound like!
The second project is Sea Change, a resonance project where we seek dialogue with the ocean in the language of music.
Sea Change is a large-scale installation commissioned by the Fremantle Biennale for November 2025, NorthSite Gallery (Gimuy/Cairns) and Makassar International Writers Festival.
I’ll be working as artistic director, in collaboration with my dear friend, Kuku Yalanji artist and singer (and aspiring harpist) Merindi Schrieber, who will use resonance to explore her traditional songlines. My partner Victor Steffensen is an Indigenous scientist, teaching us to read the stories held in the landscapes over and underwater. There’s poetry involved in the making, and I am very excited about how this exploration will unfold.
Around other events in Samoa, I had the pleasure of accompanying Klare KuOlga on her Samoan journey during CHOGM in Apia, performing for Interfaith ceremonies at the Baha’i Temple and Tiapapata Arts Centre. Klare and I live in the same region in Gimuy / Cairns, but we hadn’t had the opportunity to play together until we met in Samoa. Brought together by mutual friends, this was a magical week for us What an adventure we had sharing our music and meeting so many lovely people!
Performing at Tiapapata Arts Centre. Photo by Steven Percival.