Avaiki Handicraft and Cultural Association
BY JAYJAY MESAAC
AVAIKI Handicraft and Cultural Association is the name given to the group from Rennell in 2016 during the call for all artists to form groups and make a formal application to the new craft market centre that was opened on November 1, 2018, by the ministry of culture and tourism and other development partners.
“Our group was established in 2016, but the traditional knowledge of how to make cultural monuments had already been instilled in us through oral tradition and has been passed down by our ancestors through generations going back as far as 1900-1915.”
“Crafting of traditional artifacts and monuments are our cultural identity and will never lose out from our cultural practice but will continue to live on from generation to generation as a symbol of our cultural practice,” said Lynette Sanga, President of Avaiki Cultural Arts Association.
“To adopt cultural practices like arts and crafts is a practice that one needs to have interest and time to activate one’s talent and skills in order to fully concentrate and engage in cultural practices.”
“Marketing is a major challenge between artists to ensure that tourists are not looking for quality models of craft but are looking for designs that mostly attract their interest and their attention to how nature changes itself to different forms of cultural memorial.
“There are all sorts of tourists some tourist is passionate about photography, some focus mainly on the designs, others are looking for crafts while others ask specifically for shell money and paintings so the crafts market has a variety of traditional stuff which tourists can choose from,”
“As the head of Avaiki association, I have considered that the group should start looking into exposure as a result of the growth, strive and interest. This is also a service that has a high potential that can contribute to the Solomon Islands economic growth.”
“Materials (tree barks and Padanas) that we use to craft carvings and weave mats and baskets are no ordinary materials that are rarely sourced from anywhere but are only found in the Renbel Islands and in some parts of Guadalcanal province,” said President Sanga.
“The growing success of this Avaiki Association is a result of hard work and commitment. How far we have come is an encouragement to all cultural businesses as we strive to compete with other products and we also acknowledge our shareholders”
Mrs. Sanga is seeking financial support to support the Association.