Drawing a line in the sand: 'Sandroing' brings traditional Vanuatu art form to Museum of International Folk Art
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Lines in the sand tell a story at the Museum of International Folk Art.
The exhibit 鈥淪androing: Tracing Kastom in Vanuatu鈥� was created by Edgar Hinge, a sand drawing artist from Port Vila, Vanuatu.
鈥淗e鈥檚 originally from Pentecost Island, and he is a master in the practice of sand drawing,鈥� curator Felicia Katz-Harris said. 鈥淲hich requires an immense amount of knowledge and skill, because they have to be able to relay a story.鈥�
Sandroing is the art of tracing lines into a thin layer of sand or other similar material like ash to tell a story. Hinge, while visiting Santa Fe, drew out the designs, which museum workers then maintained for the exhibit.
鈥淭hey developed this very delicate technique of misting the sand drawing after Edgar created it with a solution that fixed the sand,鈥� Katz-Harris said, 鈥渟o that we were able to safely move it as we were preparing for the exhibition.鈥�
A focus was placed on preserving these pieces, helping spread the tradition and art of sandroing.
鈥淭raditionally, after a story is told, the sand drawing is erased. So, it was very important to Edgar that we were able to fix it,鈥� Katz-Harris said. 鈥淓ven though that鈥檚 contradictory to the tradition, because he wanted to primarily share it with our Santa Fe audiences.鈥�
Hinge works at Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta and National Museum, which the Museum of International Folk Art collaborated with to share a slice of Vanuatu culture.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a really special opportunity that we have to share this tradition with our visitors,鈥� Katz-Harris said.
Katz-Harris said, as far as they know, 鈥渢his is the first exhibition that鈥檚 specifically on the Vanuatu sand drawings that鈥檚 in a museum outside of Melanesia.鈥�
One drawing on display tells the story of respect and another tells of the Ni-Vanuatu ritual of land diving, according to Katz-Harris. All the sandroings on display are accompanied by a video showing Hinge creating them and telling the story depicted.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful way for us to help people learn about Vanuatu because there鈥檚 so much content and context that you can learn from these sand drawings,鈥� Katz-Harris said. 鈥淚t communicates so much about the way of life and the way of being and religion and ritual and ceremony and family.鈥�
While most of the works tell the stories of the Ni-Vanuatu, Hinge also focused on the story of the collaboration between the two museums.
鈥淓dgar created this story about our collaboration. And talks about what it meant to him to participate in this collaboration. He talks about the drawings themselves as being a visual evidence of a history,鈥� Katz-Harris said.
鈥淗e refers to this collaboration drawing as like a traditional contract, and so the sand drawing is like the contract between the institutions, and it鈥檚 a very special story, and we feature that in the exhibition.鈥�
