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 | Participants including secondary school students watch Edgar Hinge's presentation on sand drawings. |
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More than 150 students in Fiji were treated to brilliant displays of sand drawings by ni-Vanuatu sand artist, Edgar Hinge, through live video telecast from Port Vila as part of the Melanesian Spearhead Group's 25th Anniversary celebrations earlier this week.
Organised by the Pacific Heritage Hub (UNESCO) in partnership with the Vanuatu Kaltoral Senta (VKS) and the Vanuatu High Commission in Fiji, the displays spanned two days at the USP-Japan ICT Centre.
According to the Pacific Heritage Hub Manager, Adi Mere Ratunabuabua, sand drawing is one of only two items from the Pacific on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; the other being the Lakalaka - the dances and sung speeches of Tonga.
“This cultural exchange using ICT technology is also a way of engaging young students who are studying history as a subject in high schools and in the first-year of their university studies into thinking deeper about their heritage,” she said.
Renowned Vanuatu Kaltoral Senta sand artist, Edgar Hinge spoke to Fiji students about sand drawings, noting its many uses as a repository and channel for transmitting rituals, mythological lore, kinship and information about fishing, travel, agriculture and family stories.
He drew sand motifs from his island Pentecost, told stories and performed its accompanying repertoire of songs and music on bamboo flutes and panpipes.
Vanuatu has a cache of a couple of thousand sand drawings and each motif has its own accompanying story or legend, songs, music and accompanying dance or traditional game. This makes the art of sand drawing one of the most powerful vehicles for the storing and transmission of oral histories.
The cultural display was streamed live from USP Emalus Campus in Port Vila to students from history classes in Laucala Bay Secondary School, John Wesley College, and those doing history in their Foundation year as well those in their final year history programmes at USP.
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