HINANAO MO'NA
For all Pacific Islanders, a journey to cross the open ocean demands a courageous spirit. Looking at the history of the CHamoru people, one can see this overt act of heroism and survival. Despite the loss of many practices by way of our colonial history, the Chamoru are a stoic people determined to move the culture forward and navigate changes of time and space, to restore what was lost. The Sakman is a modern symbol of CHamoru resiliency and exhibits their desires to reclaim forgotten practices caused by circumstances of power and struggle. The work that I present exhibits the modern CHamoru endeavor to engage in this reclamation of the CHamoru cultural landscape and romanticizing of our pre-colonial nature.