*

pacific islander, grad student, teacher, photographer. concerned with indigenous resistance, decolonization, LGBTQIAP issues & intersectional feminism. fairbanks, alaska. ella in ireland

[pasifikafilm]

Portraits for some of the voyaging captains and navigators from Micronesia present at the recent Canoe Summit at ‪Fest Pac 2016, photographed by Dan Lin (click photos for names)

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[lapiti-deactivated20180926]

Just uploaded this Samoan song book with lyrics + audio files to my google drive. You’ll be able to view as well as download the files if you wish.

1. Standing dance song (1910) 2. Standing dance song (1967) 3. War song (1910) 4. War song (1940) 5. Ula dance song (1910) 6. Song of the 1918 epidemic (1966) 7. Song of the 1918 epidemic (1968) 8. Song of the spirit Te'e (1969) 9. Song in honour of a marriage (1967) 10. Song of the Mau rebellion (1940) 11. Song of political lament (1940) 12. Song of praise (1968)

The Mau rebellion song stands out to me most of all. I wanted to upload it but tumblr won’t let me. It’s the longest of the songs at 8 and a half minutes: ‘Samoa, abandon the Mau or else you will be finished off by the army / Then Tamasese stood up / “We will not retreat or be afraid; All of Samoa will be buried in this ground.”’

[sacredarch]

❤️❤️❤️

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samoa mo samoa

[h0odrich]

white contestant on cooking show: *uses a splash of soy sauce* so what I’m going for here is this sort of Asian inspired….

[manymistypes]

visit ronaland?

[ellainireland]

Martina told me last night, in Greene’s, after a few drinks, that she thinks I’ve really found my voice. That she’s really going to miss me. That I’m her girl. I’ve never been so flattered or endeared. I’m really going to miss her, too. 

[equimby]

need this babe back in my life

[ellainireland]

Ballyvaughan at twilight.

[equimby]

the aurora was out as i flew into fairbanks from seattle tonight. it was the first time i've not had to crane my neck upwards to see her, the first time we've been equals. i've spent a lot of time on airplanes this year, thinking and trying not to think and listening to harry potter books on tape. coming back here doesn't feel like coming home but it doesn't feel as bad as it used to. my taxi driver was from fort yukon and in the car she told me about spending christmas in her village and the joy of watching her 80 year old father open his gifts. i wonder a lot about what i'll take with me from this place when i leave.

[equimby]

hey has your documentary on the pacific dropped or yous still working on it?

Hi! The work I'm doing about Pacific Islands immigrants in the U.S. is ongoing- it's not really ever going to "drop"- I'm currently utilizing the Instagram platform to publish the work as it occurs ( @an.ocean ). If you're interested in being a part of it, let me know!

[everygarment-deactivated2016011]

if you capitalize dixie chicks lyrics it sounds like jenny holzer

[everygarment-deactivated2016011]

FORGIVE? SOUNDS GOOD. FORGET? I DON’T KNOW IF I COULD. THEY SAY TIME HEALS EVERYTHING BUT I’M STILL WAITING.

[equimby]

LOOSEN UP THOSE CHAINS AND DANCE.

[samguayart]

Nerdy shirt, completely the fault of that one time you followers filled my inbox telling me I looked like Luna Lovegood… and also @equimby s fault. Are you proud?

[equimby]

did you know that my friend sam is evanna lynch in disguise?

[equimby]

[equimby]

I saw your response to my message and I'm sorry that you misunderstood my intention. I understand that as an American you have grown up in a society where culture is to be isolated to those who are deemed 'valid' to celebrate it, but in my country we see culture and the history of our country as something to be shared & treasured, as it is taonga. I didn't appreciate your response to my message, I wanted to ask if you had experienced the Māori culture on your travels & share my experience. Sorry

This is not a problem isolated to America, please don’t perpetuate that stereotype.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN NEW ZEALAND: MĀORI AT THE HEART OF THE DEBATE

Racism: Tolerated and trivialised in New Zealand

Māori students still struggling with stereotypes, racism

Teachers' bias against Maori pupils revealed in study

We're not racist, but ...

I think it’s great for people to appreciate, learn about and respect the indigenous cultures of where they live- but you have to be aware of what you’re doing and how you go about doing it. Pacific Islanders don’t need to be told about our heritage and the heritage of our sisters and brothers by anyone who is not a Pacific Islander, or hasn’t been invited to do so.

[equimby]

Kia Ora, I was recently reading about your project on Pacific Island culture/people. I am from New Zealand and although I am not of pacific descent I have always had an interest in the Maori culture of my country. All my life I have been in Maori performing groups and I can now speak Maori quite well. I'd be really interested to know if you had encountered any Maori people in America and if you have I encourage you to ask them about their culture, I'm sure you'll fall in love with it like I did.

I have met Māori folks in the US, although I haven’t gotten to include any in my work yet… I’m not really sure how to respond to this. This message kind of implies that you are pākehā or other non-PI POC telling me how great Māori culture is, which doesn’t make me feel great? If you read the description of the work I’m doing, I think it communicates pretty clearly that part of what I’m looking at is how inaccessible Pacific heritage is when you’re a Pasifika person living in the US… so what was the point of this message? To tell me about how great it is that you, a non-PI living in Aotearoa, can access whatever parts of Māori tradition you deem enough to feel like you know about being Māori?

[equimby]

Hey there! I'm a mixed micronesian (Palau!!!) living in the DC area. I just found your work and I just wanna say how cool it is to see other islanders making strides out in the world. Keep it up!

Yoooooo are we related? I have to ask every Palauan that hahaha, especially if you’re in the DC area! My mom is Dolly Rechucher. I’ll be in the DMV for the holidays if you want to meet up/be involved in the work I’m doing!!

[gustheghost]

yoooo we definitely are related!!! My mom is Cory Ramarui (grandma is Ana Ramarui older sister to Tina Rechucher) and yeah I’m def down to meet up when you’re here! 

[equimby]

@siobhonm @jojointransit I found another one of us/another one of us found me hahaha yesss ! I'll let you know when I'm back in town!

[equimby]

Hey there! I'm a mixed micronesian (Palau!!!) living in the DC area. I just found your work and I just wanna say how cool it is to see other islanders making strides out in the world. Keep it up!

Yoooooo are we related? I have to ask every Palauan that hahaha, especially if you're in the DC area! My mom is Dolly Rechucher. I'll be in the DMV for the holidays if you want to meet up/be involved in the work I'm doing!!

[equimby]

If you’ve been following my PI documentary work for the last couple years and have been missing it lately, never fear! We have an Instagram account now, which is where I’ll be posting the bulk of the work (and inviting my subjects to tell their own stories, too!). I have decided to give the format a try- I’ve spent a lot of time considering how to make this body of work as accessible as possible, as quickly as possible, and for now this seems to be the answer.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a quick run-down:

In Winter of 2012, I decided I was tired- tired of seeing Pacific communities represented incorrectly, in a singularly negative way, or not at all. There are so few Pacific Islanders represented in pop culture and mass media that I can count them on two hands. The 2010 census numbers report that there are nearly 550,000 people in the US with Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islands heritage, but until I was 15 I’d never met another Pacific Islander who wasn’t related to me. An Ocean is an ongoing photographic work that documents the lives of Pacific Islanders in the Lower 48 & Alaska, re-defining cultural and individual identities in the Pacific-American diaspora one coffee date at a time.

I have found nearly all of the participants for this work thus far via Tumblr, Instagram, and through friends. This project is focused on immigrants from the geographic regions of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, first and second generation Pacific-Americans, and the children of these people who live in Alaska, the contiguous 48 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. (Part of what this work is looking at is the way that people of Pacific heritage stay connected to their cultural heritage when we do not have access to our ancestral lands, so I am not currently looking for participants from & living in Hawai’i, Samoa or Guam.) If you are interested in participating in this work, I am interested in hearing from you! I don’t want anyone to feel nervous about contacting me- I am looking for as many stories as people are willing to share with me. If you are under 18, you must have notarized permission and a photo release signed by your legal guardian before I can include you in the work.

Please feel free contact me with any questions, concerns or comments, & to share this post!