Raitea, or more correctly, Ra’iātea, is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. A 50 minute plane ride from where we spent a week in Tahiti for the ONO’U Festival, the organizers treated us and some of the artists and documentarians to an additional few days on this island this week.
The experience in this down to earth environment deepened our understanding and appreciation for the history, the sacred sites, and people here – many who have not previously had any interest in so-called Street Art or graffiti- or the current iterations of it anyway. The mainly port town is lush in vegetation with modest architecture, a lot of fresh produce, bare feet, a number of impressive tattoos, coral reefs, brightly colored schools of fish, vanilla beans, pineapples, black pearl farms, and now, murals from Street Artists from New Zealand, Paris, Madrid… Yes, we had the conversations about colonialism, cultural imperialism, hip hop culture, western culture, respecting traditions, giving and receiving. We’ll probably need more.
In the end, the artists thought perhaps more carefully about their work here than usual, sensitive to the audience, wanting to share. It’s this attitude of cultural exchange that inspires us to share them with you as images of our week. With gratitude to the organizers Sarah Roopinia, Jean Ozonder, Sarah’s kind parents, people of Tahiti and Raitea, and to you the loyal BSA reader here are some of the scenes that Jaime shot this week.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Akimbo, Charles & Janine Williams (Phat1 and Lady Diva), Kalouf, Marko93, Okuda, and Soten.
Top image: Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kalouf. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marko93. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo . Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. Martha Cooper modeling the new pair (0nly pair available at the time) of Okuda sunnies. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Okuda. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Akimbo. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Phat1. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Phat1 . Lady Diva. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Selina Miles)
Charles & Janine Williams. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Selina Miles)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Selina Miles)
Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Selina Miles)
SOT for short. Soten. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lady Diva. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lady Diva. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. Raiatea Edition. French Polynesia. October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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