This is a collection of articles, videos, photographs and audio field recordings. They were recorded on Gaua Island between December 2015 and January 2016. What came into being is a 17-part Hybrid.
A multi-dimensional journey taking you into the soul of Vanuatu, exploring what is behind the amazing smiles of these people living ancient cultures and inhabiting a small archipelago in the South Pacific.
This experimental transmedia project takes you close to the spirits and into dream worlds visually exploring deep emotions and divine experiences.
It takes some time to read it. You may explore them in chronological order by starting below or be free, creative and chaotic about when to read what.
Enjoy!
a hybrid by ramin krause
A DREAM ◊ XVI
5 weeks I spent on an island called GAUA. A wild, strong, spiritual island. It became home. This is a DREAM.
MEAT ◊ XIV
On a sunny morning the community of Bravet kill a big, white cow to sell the meat. Very colourful meat.
JOY ◊ XII
On the first day of the new year I find myself sitting on a beautiful dead tree in front of a 120m high waterfall that celebrates a new beginning with me. I feel. I understand.
All Good Fruit ◊ XI
A children’s song heard in Musina Village on Vanua Lava.
Watermusic ◊ X
Endlessly they play the water with their hands, they slap and hit, they play and laugh. All day, in the shadow of the big trees, in the river or the ocean or where the two meat.
Admiration ◊ IX
Over centuries the idea of a white supremacy has been enforced and manifested through colonialism in the now so called “developing countries”. But these global roles are ancient and wrong. Ideas about people that deserve real admiration for a forgotten strength.
SKTTRBRAIN ◊ VIII
Domestic violence is a present issue in many countries around the world. In Vanuatu many women, children and animals are subjected to violence on the daily basis. And they stay. They find a way to deal with it, to accept it and to still smile.
Uncontrolled Anger ◊ VII
Violence, the raw physical force intended to hurt or kill a person or an animal is committed daily, endless times around the world. The cycle of hurt and anger spins and spins. But why do we hurt others? And how can we stop it from spinning?
AVER ◊ Christmas Songs ◊ VI
My head is full of streams of thoughts about the disappearing island life and cultural genocides. I slowly fade into a deep, dreamful sleep. Responsibility and powerlessness fight their endless game.
Black Magic ◊ V
After having spent Christmas morning in the Anglican Church of Aver my thoughts are circling around the churches influence on the people here. Somehow I can only see the negative side and it leaves a lingering sadness on my tongue that doesn’t want to vanish. Part two.
GAUA IV ◊ The Christmas Charols of Namasari
With a head full of thoughts about missionaries and sinners I find the way to my hammock. My belly is once again full with grey juice and some maniok. Sleep envelops me soon after I lie down. No dreams come to me on this night. Only heavy ideas and a deep satisfaction...
GAUA III ◊ Baby Jesus
Since centuries christian missionaries are traveling to the most rural places in the world to convert heathens into tamely believers. What legacy do 500 years of proselytisation leave behind? A two-part experience on a small island in the South Pacific. Part One.
GAUA II ◊ Pig Joys (Poem)
Pigs traditionally have an important role in Vanuatu’s kastom system. They are one of the few animals that have not been imported by the Europeans. A poem for these wonderful animals.
◊ GAUA I ◊ full moon christmas
Every night the people of Vanuatu indulge in a ritual, they give themselves into the hands of a numbing root that grows up in the mountainous regions. Silently they drink the grey juice and connect with the sprits of the bush, their ancestors.
More information:
Gaua (formerly known as Santa Maria Island) is the largest and second most populous of the Banks Islands in Torba Province of northern Vanuatu. It covers 342 km². The island has a population of 2491 (in 2009), with an annual growth rate of 2.0 percent. This population is scattered in various coastal villages on the western, southern and northeastern sides of the island. The eastern side has a few hamlets with an immigrant population coming mainly from the two smaller islands Merig andMerelava, southeast of Gaua. The largest village is Jolap, on the west coast. Besides the language of this immigrant population (Mwerlap), there are five languages traditionally spoken on Gaua: Lakon or Vuré; Olrat; Koro; Dorig and Nume. Gaua was first sighted by Europeans during the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós, from 25 to 29 April 1606. The island’s name was then charted as Santa María.