A Queer Theirstory of Polynesia
A Queer Theirstory of Polynesia is a work-in-progress that will become a book in early 2021, and showed in 2020 in Hudson Eye as an installation. Taulapapa hopes to do further installations of this work, and render it as well as in video format in the future. The work is based on Taulapapa’s research into the queer history of the Pacific Islands, specifically within the cultures of Polynesia, which includes the Mahu of Hawai’i and Tahiti, and the Fa’afafine of Samoa. The work moves around chants and commentaries in Polynesian and colonial languages, as well as photographs, visual documents, and other pertinent works of art. The queer cultures of Polynesia were and are set in communal societies, with traditions of gender and sexuality, conflict and healing, environment and work and spirituality, and all these inform this work. Taulapapa seeks to learn from both their traditions and their alterations within colonialism and globalization from the west and the east.
Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and poet from Sāmoa i Sasa’e (Eastern Samoa, American Samoa) who identifies as Fa’afafine. Their art was shown at the Metropolitan Museum, De Young Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, Oakland Museum, Bishop Museum, Musée du quai Branly, and the United Nations. Their film Sinalela won the 2002 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Best Short Film Award. Their book of collected poems Coconut Milk (University of Arizona Press, 2013) was on the American Library Association Rainbow List Top Ten Books of the Year. Samoan Queer Lives (2018), co-edited with Yuki Kihara, is a collection of Fa’afafine interview published by Little Island Press of Aotearoa-New Zealand. Taulapapa’s performance poem The Batand and other early works received a 1997 Poets & Writers Award from The Writers Loft. Taulapapa’s art studio and writing practice is based in Hudson, New York, where they live with their partner. They are currently working on a graphic narrative on the queer history of Polynesia. Visit their website for more.
Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and poet from Sāmoa i Sasa’e (Eastern Samoa, American Samoa) who identifies as Fa’afafine. Their art was shown at the Metropolitan Museum, De Young Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, Oakland Museum, Bishop Museum, Musée du quai Branly, and the United Nations. Their film Sinalela won the 2002 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Best Short Film Award. Their book of collected poems Coconut Milk (University of Arizona Press, 2013) was on the American Library Association Rainbow List Top Ten Books of the Year. Samoan Queer Lives (2018), co-edited with Yuki Kihara, is a collection of Fa’afafine interview published by Little Island Press of Aotearoa-New Zealand. Taulapapa’s performance poem The Batand and other early works received a 1997 Poets & Writers Award from The Writers Loft. Taulapapa’s art studio and writing practice is based in Hudson, New York, where they live with their partner. They are currently working on a graphic narrative on the queer history of Polynesia. Visit their website for more.