I’ve talked with Ziggy about suggestions for a performance artist. Learning about performance art in the world of visual arts was new for me. Darcell Apelu is an afakasi artist who explores her identity as an afakasi. This was shown in her work in 2011 “CHOP”. The video is 2 minutes long, showing Apelu cutting down wood. She wears a Polynesian raffia costume, and as she moves her axe. The movement in her costume goes against the labour of cutting wood, it is a conflicting image.
Understanding this piece from a diaspora point of view, I reflect on questions of my true identity. Which I find compelling for a glimpse of Apelu’s life expressed figuratively. The underlining identity crisis between non-existent Polynesian culture and my involvement in the sport of woodchopping.