Jimmy Nare

Tribalo Arts

 

 

Tribalo Arts

 

Jimi Nare tells the stories from an isle that occupies such a small part of this planet yet is so rich in its unique cultures and traditions.

 

A Solomon Islander, promoting his identity through his artwork in Australia of a place rarely visited by the outside world. The Solomon Islands is located in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies east from Papua New Guinea, west from Fiji and north from New Caledonia and is made up of over 1,000 islands, all rich and diverse in their timeless beliefs and ways of life.

 

Agriculturally it is one of the few places left that its inhabitants can sustain a hunter and gatherer lifestyle successfully and in the most remote parts, has not yet been affected at all by western life styles and influences. 

 

Like many places, its European colonials had an impact on the lives of these islander people as their landmarks were pivotal in the outcomes of world wars and their people’s beliefs questioned on the influx of Christians.  Remembering these events were just moments in time of a place that’s historical years were well embedded in the lives of the people before any outside influences.  Jimi Nare depicts the indigenous traditions that existed in another time, a time when no outside visitor had set foot on this land. 

 

I am a Solomon Islander and moved to Australia 15 years ago.  I grew up in White River, Honiara. As a child, I watched my father create artworks that told the tales of the Islands that I was so accustomed to from listening to the many stories that were passed down to me.”

 

“My Artwork spreads the ‘Tribal Stories’ through the medium of print and design that can be both a modern presentation on canvas or traditional style on Tapa.”

 

From the Tapa tree, bark is stripped into a thick textured paper similar to Egyptian papaya. It can be then woven into floor mats, personal carrier bags and of course, used as canvas for painting.

 

A specific craft that was well known around the country is the making of tapa cloth. The tapa is pounded and refined until the texture becomes similar to a cloth. This is then for example worn as a gown or around the waist.

 

These are meaningful designs. All represent a long history and some commonly used as tattoo’s depending on which area of the islands the people are from.

 

“The motifs and designs used in my work represent the many different parts of the Solomon Islands from the Frigate bird to the canoe decorative of the Ngzu Ngzu. (War God).

 

The Frigate bird image is set out as a painting but originally comes as a pendent. Worn as one of the popular necklace in the Solomon Islands. The white sphere is made out of clam shell, chiseled into a smooth flat circular shape. The back pattern on the white clam shell is carefully carved turtle shell that is then tied onto the clam shell.

 

The Solomon Islands are famously known for head hunting.

Head hunting is now outdated but had been a tradition for decades prior to the dismantling of its culture due to the arrival of millitant missionaries.

This design would have been carved into a 3D wooden model’s attached to the front of the war canoe’s. If the Ngzu Ngzu was holding a bird’s skull, it meant the people on the canoe’s came in peace. But if the Ngzu Ngzu held a human skull, it meant that the people on the canoe’s came for war. Head Hunting meant collecting human heads then storing them in sacred areas of the islands.

Western province has a land called “Skull Island”. This Island is where a small amount of human skulls are kept. It is now a tourist sight that can only be viewed with the permission of the chief. Around the Islands there are still sacred areas of the Solomon’s that no outsider’s can enter.

(Like the Ngzu Ngzu canno decorative, western province side are notorious for wood carving.)

 

 I have spent time imagining the stories behind the pieces of work Jimi has painted.  Some of the stories are truly legendary and others mystical. Listening to the stories are like attending a school of culture.

Jimi has painted hundreds of pieces. The most interesting to me have been displayed in his art studio.

 

“I have had my work displayed in Parliament House in Honiara which actually paid my way to come to Australia when I visited in 1997. I was also commissioned to complete a project for the Solomon Islands High Commission in Canberra, Australia, and have also created an outside artwork at the local Primary School whose interest is in the promotion of the vast cultures of the students that attend, my daughters being two of these students.” 

 

This project meant that jimi was the first Solomon Islander to uphold its countries art on this scale.

 

With my own eye’s I was lucky enough to see Jimi complete a project so grand. The project was designed to represent the divers culture in school. This is inspiring and inventive.

 

“My aim is to create Art that tells a “Thousand Tales” of the Solomon Islands to my children and their children so that they may see the beauty and traditions of my home land.”

 

“It is a way that I can tell the many stories that were told to me to ensure this generation, and the next, will not lose the legends of the islands, but instead gain knowledge and experience a way of life so vastly different to their own.”

I see myself as a story teller of a time and place where richness lies in its immense culture and timeless traditions.”

 

“My work has travelled far and wide and my main aim is to continue to spread my tribal stories to all parts of the globe through my profile being raised on Facebook, YouTube and a personal website.”

 

Art is an expression of culture. This article specifically has allowed us a small glimps from a unique part of the world.

Art is the result of how we take experience and in this case, history and projected it in creative ways.

My time spent with the artist Jimi Nare was for me the school of culture.
 

Jimi’s business contacts.

Facebook: Tribalo Arts Nare

 

Contact Number: 0422 48 60 43