Torba Weavers
By Ruth McDougall
‘11th Asia Pacific Triennial’ August 2024
Torba Weavers of Vanuatu
Established 2023, Vevtüng and Lembal villages, Gaua Island, Torba Province, Vanuatu
Live and work in Torba Province
Julian Mary Dini, b.1994, Motalava Island, lives and works on Motalava Island / Regina Lepping, b.1990, Shortland Islands, lives and works in Honiara / Christina Mot, b.1956, Merelava Island, lives and works on Merelava Island / Ashantee Roy Nalo, b.2006, Espiratu Santo, lives and works in Espiratu Santo and Lembal, Gaua Island / Faith Nancy, b.1971, Motalava Island, lives and works on Motalava Island / Thelma Opress, b.1974, Gaua Island, lives and works on Gaua Island / Noeline Romol, b.1974, Gaua Island, lives and works on Gaua Island / Ann Rongle, b.1971 Merelava Island, lives and works on Malekula Island / Deli Rose Philip, b.1997, Gaua Island, lives and works on Gaua Island / Elisabeth Salvemal, b.1954, Gaua Island, lives and works on Gaua Island / Helen Salvemal, b.1974, Merelava Island, lives and works on Merelava Island / Curated by Dely Roy Nalo, b.1983, Port Vila, lives and works on Gaua Island / With the assistance of David Maseng Nalo, b.1972, Malekula Island / Live and work in Espiritu Santo and Lembal, Gaua Island
Curator Dely Roy Nalo descends from a chiefly line on Gaua Island, Torba Province. Working directly with ni-Vanuatu artists and their chiefs, Nalo conducts research and conversations to create new spaces for the articulation of kastom (customary knowledge and practice) and to ensure the intergenerational transmission of knowledge around the sustainable use of natural resources in an era of climate change.
For this Triennial, Nalo devised an intergenerational project focused on the knowledge embedded in women’s weavings from the Banks Islands group. Working with her husband, children and women from Gaua, Mere Lava and Mote Lava Islands, Nalo coordinated a weaving exchange in 2023. The Torba Weavers project brings together examples of weavings that flow from this workshop, all of which demonstrate how these traditions continue to change through the intricate exploration of colour, pattern and form.
This project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Office for the Arts, part of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and QAGOMA’s Oceania Women’s Fund.
Participants in Torba Province weaving workshops, Lembal village, Gaua Island, 2023 / Photograph: Ruth McDougall
An age-old tradition in the Pacific, basket-making produces objects that are useful, beautiful, and give tangible form to time. Baskets and basket-making can be connected to lifetimes of experience, and the practice is associated with specific geographies as well as familial, cultural, material and economic circumstances.
Initiated by curator and artist Touata (Dely Roy Nalo) for the Asia Pacific Triennial, the project ‘Né Vé Fé (Woven)’ by the Torba Weavers of Vanuatu focuses on basket-making and weaving traditions found throughout Torba Province, one of the most isolated areas of the Vanuatu archipelago. With little access to imported materials, the women work with local plant fibres, seeds and varieties of cane to create traditional and contemporary forms used in daily life. Importantly, these objects also represent bold statements of creativity, cultural identity and cultural resilience.
This project has been supported by the Oceania Women’s Fund through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. The Torba Weavers also wish to acknowledge the support of the people of Nempeq Lav, south-east Gaua, Vanuatu.
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