Beroana (Shell money) I

2015 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

Variable dimensions

Taloi Havini


Following her family’s political exile to Australia in 1990, Havini began to document her journey’s home to the north of Buka Island, in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Reflecting on the still visible aftermath of conflict and changing economic factors, Havini creates traditional beroana or shell money from extracted earth materials only found on Solomon islands like Bougainville. Havini’s whirling assemblage of ceramic discs emulate the strings of shell money (still valid around the Pacific as system of payments) to examine the economic changes that occurred in her homeland. Additionally, the beroana are stored in marae tsuhana, sacred storage vessels, suspended high in secret keeping places. The freely suspended, copious lengths of beroana that Havini has created resonate with the Indigenous Bougainvillean conceptions of land and water spaces as the sacred skin of the people. She invites the viewer to access the sacred space enveloping and protecting Indigenous knowledges in the form of the beroana. In so doing, Havini alludes to unbridled possibility in the years to come for Bougainville, and for all Indigenous peoples whose cultural practices are arrested by aggressive mining activities on their sacred skin/land.


From the Nakas clan, Hakö people, interdisciplinary artist Taloi Havini was raised in Arawa, Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Working with ceramics, photography, print, video and mixed media installation, Havini’s considered approach to art-­making responds to the tensions and aftermath of the German plantations, Australian colonial mining pressures, and the deadly Bougainville conflict around Indigenous land rights and independence of the 1990s. The youngest child of political activist parents, Havini migrated to Australia at the height of the war.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Robbie Augspurger
© » UNRATED

Robbie Augspurger — UNRTD™ Robbie Augspurger Photographer Robbie Augspurger's retro portrait style is far for limited, looking at his work it is apparent that his creative undertaking is hilarious and brilliant, down to the very last impeccable detail...

CIAS Blends Sensibilities of Tattooing, Ancient Artists in His Paintings
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

Carlos Mendes, who works under the name CIAS, is a painter and tattoo artist with a penchant toward ancient art history...

The Ship of Fools Mooring at the Train Station
© » KADIST

Liu Yu

2016

“Ship of Fools” is a literary term derived from Sebastian Brant’s 1949 satirical allegory of the same name...

Newly Unearthed: The First Known Photograph of the San Francisco Opera
© » KQED

The First Known Photograph of the San Francisco Opera | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer upper waypoint Arts & Culture Newly Unearthed: The First Known Photograph of the San Francisco Opera Sarah Hotchkiss Feb 8 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Email A detail from an October 1923 photograph of the San Francisco Opera company in the Civic Auditorium shows performers and family in pre-performance street clothes...

Dubai Royal Showcases Unique Art Collection at Festival - via Khaleej Times
© » LARRY'S LIST

Visitors to the annual Quoz Arts Fest, taking place at Alserkal Avenue on January 27-28, will be able to view a unique private art collection, spanning two.....

GUILLOTINÆ Wanna Cry, Act Yellow: Break Room
© » KADIST

Sofía Córdova

2021

Set some time in the future, Sofía Córdova’s multi-channel film installation GUILLOTINÆ Wanna Cry, Act Yellow: Break Room imagines a public that worships pop stars and revolutionary leaders equally...

Les Chenilles
© » KADIST

Michelle and Noel Keserwany

2022

Les Chenilles by Michelle and Noël Keserwany is a sensual film that translates the source of women’s oppression into the means for their liberation...

Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball
© » KADIST

Victor & Sergiy Kochetov

1992

Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball by Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov features a concrete monument of women volleyball players before the railway station in the village of Vodyanoye, Kharkiv region...

Landslides
© » KADIST

Caroline Déodat

2020

Landslides is a cinematographic essay/poem by Caroline Déodat in which fictional images are the result of research into the memories of a Mauritian dance born during colonial slavery, the Sega...

How can photography heal past trauma? Ask a friend
© » 1854 PHOTOGRAPHY

How can photography heal past trauma? Ask a friend - 1854 Photography Subscribe latest Agenda Bookshelf Projects Industry Insights magazine Explore ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW Explore Stories latest agenda bookshelf projects theme in focus industry insights magazine ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW All images © Sophie Russell-Jeffrey Collaborating with her childhood friend, Sophie Russell-Jeffrey was able to access the most difficult episodes of their past – and push her portraiture into raw new territory Sophie Russell-Jeffrey was born and raised in Towcester, a small East Midlands town of around 10,000 people where “everyone knows everyone’s business”...

Art Talent Show review – witty interrogation of art students asks the big questions
© » THE GUARDIAN

Art Talent Show review – witty interrogation of art students asks the big questions | Movies | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation Abstract thoughts … Art Talent Show...

A Mother’s Moving Portrait of Her
© » ANOTHER

Angela Hill’s Emotional Portrait of Her Daughter’s Adolescence | AnOther IDEA co-founder Angela Hill’s latest photo book, Edith, captures two decades of her daughter’s life as she navigates the rocky trials of adolescence December 04, 2023 Text Millen Brown-Ewens This time last year, IDEA co-founder Angela Hill had just released the independent publisher’s most personal publication to date: the first book of her own photography...

Tropical Siesta
© » KADIST

Phan Thao Nguyên

2017

Tropical Siesta begins in a rural landscape of Vietnam...

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Art in the time of COVID-19 and more
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Art in the time of COVID-19 and more | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Radar Via Philippine Daily Inquirer March 19, 2020 ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region...

Myriam Pruvot — Chant éloigné
© » SLASH PARIS

Myriam Pruvot — Chant éloigné — La Maréchalerie, centre d’art contemporain — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Myriam Pruvot — Chant éloigné — La Maréchalerie, centre d’art contemporain — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Myriam Pruvot — Chant éloigné Exhibition Architecture, performance, sound - music, video Antenae © Myriam Pruvot, 2023...

Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sun by David Everitt Howe
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Sebastián Silva's Rotting in the Sun Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

Matt Lipps Part 1
© » KADIST

Matt Lipps, studio visit....

Au Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon, splendeurs et misères de la ruine
© » LE MONDE

Au Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon, splendeurs et misères de la ruine Offrir Le Monde Article réservé aux abonnés « Vue imaginaire de la Grande Galerie du Louvre en ruines » (1796), d’Hubert Robert...

Gao Mingyan interview
© » KADIST

This interview was conducted by Biljana Ciric Camera by Gao Mingyan Translation by Wu Chenyun A collaboration between Yishu and KADIST...