I'm a visual artist in Fiji. How does your review process work?
The In-Depth Review is new to Fiji so this is an Explainer to describe process, approach, and other items.
We may not know each other; you as visual artist, me as literary artist (writer); but the review is a relationship between us and the world at large. The review or criticism falls under the genre of nonfiction. My reasons, approach, and background to the review are outlined in this digital publication, BOKOLA which is a Series. It will guide you. You may read it now or bookmark it for future reading.
This explains the approach and position taken in the Review Process.
For ease of reading, this Explainer is set in the format of 'Question & Answer' in toggle. You may read it in order from top (here) to bottom or go to any question in random order.
Click on the questions to learn about the review process.
What is a Review and is it new to Fiji?
A Review is an Opinion, in this case, mine.
No, it is not new to Fiji. You and your artwork are already being reviewed: through people and collectives on social media; by academics in academic journals; by reviewers in blogs; by art and culture institutions in Fiji and Oceania; and by mainstream media through news, features, and opinion pieces they may run from time to time.
Fiji Traveller magazine, a sister publication to Islands Business has dedicated space to the Review and it is useful for you as an artist to subscribe to this or purchase it from stockists in Fiji. It is also helpful to know their reporters and writers and to keep them in your email distribution lists for exhibitions you may be working toward. Don't rely on your social media profile and tagging people alone.
Do you need my permission to review my artwork?
No.
In fact, ideally, I should not discuss anything with you.
However, I have contacted some of you directly because I don't have access to a wider sample of your artwork which may be deemed your 'body of work'.
Like all other reviewers, my review is based on all artwork that you put in the public domain through your participation in exhibitions, on your social media handles, and largely through those buyers and collectors who procure your artwork.
Could you please explain the Review Process?
Yes. My process is both subjective and objective.
I am subjective in my choice of artist and artwork to review. It's not whether I know you or like your artwork. The motivating factor for me is always whether the work piques my curiosity. And when I do choose to pause and look, it is about whether you and your artwork speak to me. This is the subjective phase.
The next phase is objective. My experience of the artwork may elicit more than one response but each response will be rational - meaning - if I say something works or does not work for me, I will back it up with an explanation.
I look at all artwork without reading any overall narrative(s) and captions per piece. My second phase involves reading all captions and accompanying narratives. If viewing in-person, I may go at a later date to read your written material as it's important for me to 'process' the artwork alone in the first instance - it remains the foremost conversation for me.
Do you visit all art exhibitions you review?
Yes.
Here's the breakdown: I live in Fiji. I attend the exhibitions I can, and I will try to attend as many as I can against my own work and writing.
I also review digitally - I believe were it not for the global COVID-19 pandemic, I would not be coming up with this review process and design. I believe this is critical because you as an artist may not get coverage in state or national level print media or other multimedia names in countries your work travel to. This is not to say, this review does either, but at least, there is documentation and opinion to register.
For example: I am currently reviewing three art exhibitions being held in other countries. I am working with curators and project leaders who are generous with their time. This is necessary for me given that Fiji has extremely limited art infrastructure in terms of proper galleries. I have chosen to build relationships that will permit me to 'track' or 'follow' Fijian, Oceanian (Pacific) art into the world.
They photograph all artwork in the exhibition(s), share digital folders, photograph captions and narratives (critical for me to view it 'physically' as positioned in the gallery space), and are on email for questions from me. It takes tremendous love and generosity.
In the end, I also ask for a 'Digital Viewing' of the exhibition(s) and someone 'walks' me through the full exhibition so I may 'experience' the artwork.
If you are a Fijian artist based in Fiji or in our diaspora, there is a chance I will view your work through the outlined digital process grounded in the generosity and kindness of people in the art sector.
The point of difference.
HOW IS YOUR REVIEW DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS?
Foremost, is my beginning from a Western approach, then deviation. I begin with the standard Western features of the review but have over the years, deviated in my own thinking and my way(s) of experiencing life, which includes purposeful seeing/unseeing the world - or deliberate shifting of eyes, creative and intellectual attention to construct viewpoint(s) meaningful to myself.
I could provide the easy answer and say I look to Fijian, Pacific Islands, and Oceanic-based modes of thought and perspectives in this work; I could discuss decolonisation but these would be simplistic.
While these all continue to influence my starting point, and have an interplay in my thinking, I have not arrived at a place where I can say I have a specific or suite of specifics to successfully describe my complete process(es) and my arrival or multiple arrivals at different ports of call - all chance, and seldom from a pre-charted course. This is progressive, exploratory, and archaeological through the tools of fiction and nonfiction writing. In this instance, nonfiction.
I think every artwork, even if from the same artist, is for me a different, a unique experience. At best, we are prisms - when and where light hits us offers us a different experience.
Perhaps a better way to say the same is that we are bodies of water, when and how light enters us and refracts, is ultimately what performs two things: (a) makes the artwork visible to us; and (b), informs a way of seeing.
Your artwork is that light.
How I, and every other reviewer, experience your artwork, will ultimately be about who we are as people. We bring ourselves as we are at a particular place in our lives and in the collective history of our country and the world - to experience what you offer through your art.
Hopefully, this growing body of reviews will tell us more about you, me, and the world we are happening to pass through at this time.
The intent is to build, not destroy.