a nonlinear artwork
for wild 2002 : : stone
------
I
am a descendant of the Tahitians and mutineers of the Bounty, who settled on Pitcairn
Island in 1790. The culture that resulted is very much a hybrid. The community
literally made up their culture as they went along. The women adopted European
names, the community built Tahitian style canoes, the language was a blend of
Tahitian and English. There was basically a race war after arriving on Pitcairn,
and women made up most of the adult population within six years. The pervasive
power of women is felt today on Norfolk Island (all Pitcairners moved to Norfolk
Island in 1856; some returned). That women had the vote on Pitcairn was recorded
in 1837. Equal sharing is an important aspect of Pitcairn culture.
The
culture is not official, in the sense of making tapa or dancing traditionally,
although music is a feature of the culture as is making good with what is at hand.
The ukulele is ubiquitous. On Norfolk the Tamare is danced, but at parties rather
than performances. My mother met my father by swimming into him at a beach on
Norfolk (he was stationed there just after the war). Afterwards, they moved to
New Zealand Aotearoa.
------
Manuel
De Landa (1997, p. 26-27) has written of the mineralisation of elements in the
sea, forming basic skeletal structures, eventually leading to the development
of the human endoskeleton, and later the mineralisation of the human exoskeleton
in the form of modern dwellings, enabled by clay and bricks.
De Landa, M. (1997). A thousand
years of nonlinear history. New York: Zone Books.
------
Viewing
all aspects of all systems – from cosmology to rocks, acts and personality
– as energies that propagate actualities greatly assists understanding nonlinear
processes. De Landa, (1997 p. 64, citing Deleuze and Guattari) writes of “an
articulation of superpositions… an interconnection of diverse but overlapping
elements.” Chemical elements and processes migrate into the human biological
landscape; the same energy migrates onto the human cultural plateau.
------
"If
this interpretation is correct, Tasmania and much of the area now beneath the
Bass Basin and central Victoria may have remained as an isolated fragment of continental
crust, with new oceans forming on either side. During the early Devonian this
fragment was involved in a collision along it's western margin...[in] the middle
Devonian a collision occurred on it's eastern margin...The deformation resulting...is
preserved in a collage of folds, thrusts, reverse faults and strike slip faults...related
is a period of extensive granite intrusion."
Hall,
M (1998). The structural history of northern Tasmania and the Bass Strait connection.
Available http://www.agcrc.csiro.au/publications/9798/335.html 3rd January 2002.
------
There
is a Polynesian stone quarry at Tautama, Pitcairn Island 1km (0.6mi) west along
the coast from the main settlement. On Norfolk Island, there are rock formations
that resemble Easter Island statues.
Rock formations at the Cock
Pitt, Greater Cascades, Norfolk Island.
------
The
'artificial curiosity' above is known as a 'poi pounder'. It was carved out of
one piece of stone and consists of a flared circular base and an upward curved
bar. The poi pounder was in common domestic use in Polynesia at the time of the
Pandora’s visit in 1791. It was used to pound breadfruit, taro and other
fruits to a mash known as 'poi'. This was an important food for the Polynesians.
Several poi pounders have been found on the Pandora (the ship that was transporting
captured mutineers from the Bounty, which was wrecked off the Queensland coast
in 1791).
Source:
http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/features/pandora/artefacts-artificial.asp
------
