Navua, Viti Levu, Fiji
My neighbours and two closest companions whilst I lived in Fiji. 12 year old Iris and her mother Luisa stand together waiting for the bus. This image best depicts Iris who I watched grow within the short time I was there, despite being only 12, there were times she reminded me of a moody teenager with her deep-set frown, in thought or moping, often with her face in her mum's phone, listening to Dolly Parton or Pink.
I spent the weekend with my friend Luisa and her extended family. This is her father, Naibuka, he is 70 years old but he still runs his farm and sells ginger, taro, cassava and bananas to overseas markets. Over the weekend he shared with me his stories of rich people in their yachts visiting him throughout the 80s on the island he grew up on, Kadavu. He showed me round his farmland and shared his secrets of vitality and strength (he’s possibly the youngest and healthiest looking 70 year old I’ve ever met). The orange flowers that litter the floor are from the African Tulip trees that have overtaken the Fijian landscape, people see it as a pest there but it was one of my favourite aspects of the scenery that I experienced.
Kavala Bay, Kadavu Island, Fiji
Luisa was born in Kadavu, at the age of 5 her grandparents took her away to live on the mainland. It was only 42 years later, accompanied by myself, that Luisa returned to her village and land. This image shows her stood on the ferry looking out at the bay after first arriving there, she surveys the land that became almost mythic to her in the time she was separated from it. The white bokeh in the background is the blur of her village, Kavala. Luisa treated me like her own daughter and I was lucky enough for her to show me round the country, be introduced to her extended family and be part of her profound experience of returning to her homeland. My experience of Fiji wouldn’t have been what it was without her.
Naitasiri, Viti Levu, Fiji
I was struck by young Luisa's staring gaze and her gingham dress matching with the dinner cloth and curtains. Just out of frame, above the Christian iconography, newspaper cuttings of the two recent British royal weddings are stuck to the wall. It struck me as incredibly surreal to find such images on the walls of a small wooden hut in the middle of the deep and green tropics. I feel this image shows the subtle undertones of British colonialism that are still very much present in Fiji today. The mug of tea in the foreground, the gingham patterns, the christian iconography and the Royalism, all elements introduced to Fiji by the British over 140 years ago. Had the British not taken control in 1874, this image would perhaps be very different.
Kavala Village, Kadavu Island, Fiji
Bubu is the Fijian word for Grandmother and can be used as a name for any older woman. This is Bubu Senidilo, one of Luisa's relatives who hosted us when we came to visit Kadavu. Here Bubu prepares food whilst a tapestry of Jesus watches over her.
Kavala Village, Kadavu Island, Fiji
Esther is 9 years old, she lives in the same village Luisa was born. Her island sits beside the third largest great barrier reef in the world. Esther had the softest spirit but was so ahead of her years; I would see her cook and clean but also play with the other children around the village. She was both womanly and child-like all at once. Here she is stood looking through the front door of her home where her baby brother is stood just out of shot.
Waikalou, Viti Levu, Fiji
Within the first week of moving to Fiji I attended a church service at Luisa's house. This was the beginning of our friendship. After the service Lu served out english breakfast tea and Babakau (Fijian fried bread). Aunt Maureen's hands can be seen waiting to receive the tea. Maureen's grandparents were some of the first white settlers in Fiji.
Loqi Settlement in Ba Province, Viti Levu
I travelled to the 'interior' with Luisa to visit her son Adrian, daughter-in-law Esiteri and their baby boy Roland. Tai is Adrian's father-in-law and Roland's grandfather. The four of them live up in the highlands of Western Viti Levu together. It took us many hours of buses on dirt roads to reach their home. Here Tai sits in front of an episode of In Touch, a broadcast coming all the way from America. On the TV is Dr Charles Stanley, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlanta, preaching his Christian doctrine.This was a surreal moment as I felt the full force of globalisation at play, along with the power of religion connecting two very separate worlds; Atlanta America and the isolated peaks of Fiji.
Kavala Village, Kadavu Island, Fiji
Uncle Veramo, Luisa's distant relative, sits on his sofa, surrounded by his patterned and colourful lounge and kitchen. It was not uncommon to see interiors dressed in such a varied, lively and clashing way. It was one of my favourite aspects of Fijian style. Luisa would laugh at me for photographing so many interiors which seemed so ordinary to her and my other Fijian friends and yet so extraordinary to my own eyes which were so accustomed to muted whites and beiges on the walls of my friends' homes back in England. Veramo's wife, Mare, also dressed in a patterned combination almost blends in to the background of the scene as she washes up.
Kavala Village, Kadavu Island, Fiji
A man arrives back from a boat ride to the post office, holding up his sulu from the muddy ground. Kadavu has no cars and people get round by way of Fibre boats on the island.