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The art featured in this issue can be viewed in full color in the online version of The Contemporary Pacific via Project MUSE.

The Buddy System, 2004 2006

20042006

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Tangaroa, by Ani O’Neill. 1992.Corduroy, embroidery, dacron. 400 mm 350 mmCollection of Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand, Wellington.

Exploring the question “What is Cook Islands Art?” I merged my knowledge of (Cook Islands quilting) with ideas and skills I learned from master carver Michael Tavioni to produce a lightweight “cuddly toy,” Cook Islands souvenir version of Tangaroa, the Polynesian deity, god of the sea, and supreme god of Rarotonga—provoking various responses from unsuspecting viewers.

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Rainbow Country, by Ani O’Neill. 2000.Wool, steel. 1550 mm 2440 mm.Collection of Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand, Wellington.

Like a group of people moving around a music festival, a set of disco lights bouncing from wall to wall, a school of fish among heads of coral, this work is intended to convey a sense of containment as well as freedom.

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by Ani O’Neill. 2002.Exhibition detail from ‘Ei Line, Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand. Recycled shell (lei) and nylon. Approximately 100 mm 100 mm 100 mm.Private Collection.

The gifting of beautifully made shell often marks the end of a stay in the tropics for those heading back to colder climes. If “aren’t really your thing,” they also turn up in thrift shops around the globe, and they sometimes break. But I love them; I repair and make them into things that resemble a type of flotsam that might wash up on the beach of life.

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by Ani O’Neill. 2003.Installation and detail. Wool, recycled plastic bottles, gallery plinths. Large (octopus) on plinths approximately 1.5 m 2 m 2 m.Collection of Waikato Museum of Art and History/Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Pulling rocklike plinths from the depths of each gallery space, inflating tentacles with empty water bottles from local rubbish bins and nightclub alleys, I created the world with its tentacles, the art world—all clean and tidy yet messing with you—frightening with its implied, larger-than-life, hissing laugh. Hee-heee-shheheeee!

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by Ani O’Neill. 2006.Materials, detail, and installation view. Coconut midrib, feathers, raffia, shells, seeds, sequins, videotape, recycled plastic. Dimensions variable.Pasifika Styles exhibition, University of Cambridge, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, United Kingdom.

These works were inspired by treasures seldom seen, seldom touched: fine sticks bound with feathers collected from Hawai‘i and stored in the museum. translates as “little stars,” and our bundles were made with the help of young schoolchildren. Sparks of creativity were allowed to fly—the magic of the moment, of touch, and the importance of passing on the flame to light new paths.

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The Kikau Broom Project, by Ani O’Neill. 2006.Collaborative project with Papaaroa Adventist School, Titikaveka, Rarotonga, Cook Islands.Created for 2006 touring exhibition titled Islanded: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.Students prepare kikau (pandanus) leaves in Rarotonga; installation at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand.

At the start of the school year, each classroom in the Cook Islands needs a new broom, usually made by the students of that class. This was my first collaborative artwork with students of my mother’s home island. I wanted to slip into the system, shifting everything that is normal and unseen into a parallel, highlighted reality.

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Lei Mai: Made Fresh in Nelson! by Ani O’Neill. 2007.

Nelson, New Zealand.Detail. Fabric (fleecy sweatshirting), pareu, cushions, stop-motion camera. Three (Cook Islands quilts) on display, made by Nelson-based Cook Islanders.

A large floor work on which to contemplate the art of . Documentary video footage of the exhibition captured the movement and stillness of the space. Time to stop. And look.

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Dancer of the Year . Solo exhibition by Ani O’Neill. 2011.Installation included sculptural objects, opening night performance, short documentary dvd, costume. Photos by Vinesh Kumaran. Images

Auckland, New Zealand.

A lifelong love of Cook Islands dance and the desire (and fear) to enter a national dance competition to prove this skill cumulated in a solo exhibition that both acted out the fantasy and paid tribute to those who dance.

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