Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
APT9
Born 1987 Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Lives and works in Oregon, United States
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner is a poet, teacher and performance artist born in the Marshall Islands. Her poetry primarily focuses on cultural issues and threats faced by her Micronesian people. These include nuclear testing conducted in the Marshall Islands, militarism, the rising sea level as a result of climate change, forced migration, and economic adaptation. In 2014, she was chosen to address the UN Climate Summit in New York City, and in 2017 she performed at the opening weekend of the inaugural Honolulu Biennial. Her first book of poems, Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, was published in 2017. Jetñil-Kijiner works across artistic disciplines with her poetry, often focusing on weaving, which underpins the traditional spiritual and social structure of Marshallese life.
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner / Jaki-ed weaving workshop, Majuro, Marshall Islands, September 2017 / Photograph: Christine Germano Image courtesy: The artist and University of South Pacific, Majuro
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner is a spoken-word artist who articulates the effects of global issues on the people of the Marshall Islands. In her work for APT9, Lorro: Of Wings and Seas 2018, she engages with the recent revival of jaki-ed weaving and the weaving circle, both important symbols of cultural resilience in the Marshall Islands. Jetñil-Kijiner created this work in response to the three-week weaving circle workshop in Majuro in September 2017, facilitated by QAGOMA and the University of the South Pacific.
In Jetñil-Kijiner’s performance, the weaving circle represents a space for her to explore how women’s roles and identities continue to be shaped by Marshallese culture, the nuclear legacy and a climate-threatened future. The closing segment draws inspiration from butoh (Japanese dance theatre), and addresses the influence of nuclear testing on the bodies of Marshallese women. Each strand of the artist’s performance connects local wisdom with global issues, and opens the weaving circle up to embrace new audiences.
