MONO PACIFICA
Mono Pacifica is an extensive body of monochrome digital prints I created in the South Sea island republics of Fiji, Kiribati, and Tuvalu, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship that allowed me to work and travel throughout Oceania for twelve months.
When I first arrived in Fiji, I fell under the spell of the place itself, what Fijians call the "vanua,” and quickly began to photograph my sub-tropical surroundings. At first, I found it nearly impossible to resist the cloyingly colorful and accessible postcard imageworld that surrounded me wherever I went. I shot my share of color film to create a visual diary of my special year. Once I settled in, I began to notice that around six o'clock every day the hypercolor of the subtropics would be slowly transformed into a monochromatic netherworld of shadows, textures, and forms that intrigued me; a phenomenon I could not depict in color. I started using monochrome film and began a year-long obsession that eventually became my Mono Pacifica series.
Mono Pacifica depicts the sensual, vibrant, and menacing aspects of the natural world I experienced throughout the South Pacific. These depictions of nature are combined with images of the people who live in and with the natural forces of these subtropical islands. I also included a visual motion tribute to the prevailing winds that continuously challenged me. Each of these related themes are presented in the exhibition as visual suites.
The natural world depicted in Mono Pacifica has as much in common with the botanical garden variety as the cloven hoof has with Bambi. It is an unbridled force that is ready to pummel even as it entices. This primal world is in a constant state of arousal and renewal. No wonder countless travelers from the temperate zone became obsessed with the sensuality of the place, and mistakenly projected a nasty kind of licentiousness onto the people who live here. This force of nature is palpable though. I could feel its pagan presence everywhere I went. Ironically, its power seemed most apparent in the least likely place: Suva, Fiji, the only real "city" in the South Sea islands. Every fence or wall I encountered in Suva was in a losing battle with the natural forces that seemed hell-bent on reclaiming the carpentered environment gouged so confidently onto its surface by European colonizers.
Mono Pacifica is my way of sharing what I was privileged to see and feel during my twelve month sojourn in the South Seas.