Fiji Baat

Fiji Baat (translates to ‘Fiji talk’ or the language Fiji Hindi). The project will tell the stories of lndo-Fijians who migrated to New Zealand and those who stayed behind as an act of resistance despite decades of political upheaval.

The project has two outcomes:

1. A series of portraits set against backdrops that evoke the nostalgia of the photo studio with stories of individuals.

2. A new moving-image work created will examine how identity is shaped by place through layered footage, interviews in Fiji Hindi, English, an original soundtrack and recorded audio.

This project will create a series of portraits, and interviews of Indo-Fiians in the Local Board area. We will identify at least five groups through existing community networks – they could be families, colleagues, a sports team – to learn about, conduct a pre-interview with, before inviting them and others to join in this project where we discover and document what makes them uniquely Indo-Fijian.

The project seeks to tell powerful and complex stories about Indo-Fijian identity and the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. The portraits, interviews and moving image captured will also be included in a national project (which has received some funding from Foundation North and Creative New Zealand) culminating in rich, nuanced and varied stories about how Indo-Fijians became who they are today.

The outcome would be for the work to be shown in the Henderson-Massey area. The team will also be exploring national exhibition outcomes and early interest for the kaupapa has been positive from select public galleries and founder of the digital platform @GirmitDiaries on Instagram.