Single-channel video installation, color, sound
20 min
Commissioned by TBA21–Academy
With the support of
Air Tahiti Nui, Official Travel Partner of Alexander Lee
Alexander Lee, a participant in TBA21–Academy’s Marquesas expedition in his native French Polynesia, carefully reconsiders the imaginary of the desert island. If imagination is a fundamental human need, “[w]hat must be recovered is the mythological life of the deserted island”[1] beyond worn-out commonplaces. Lee’s video revolves around Mehetia, a volcanic hotspot east of Tahiti from which all of the Society Islands have emerged, and the youngest island in this archipelago. Its relevance for the geological formation of the region echoes in local mythology. In the creation myth titled “The Departure of the Fish” related by Teuira Henry in 1935, Me-ti’a (thing-standing) is the mouth excretion of the fish as which Tahiti is often represented. The legend is a mnemonic apparatus to remember the names and affiliations of island territories and the way they were populated. Today, Mehetia is uninhabited, but a marae site bears witness to former habitants, their beliefs and ancient cosmologies. Lee visited Mehetia on a boat expedition and documented the volcano and its oceanic surroundings in photography and moving image.
This video is the first step in a possible process of acquiring the island collectively through a crowdfunding campaign in which each individual contribution will be restricted to 1 Euro, a price enabling anybody to become a co-owner and warranting each participant an equal share in the project. The video examines the process of realizing the dream of owning a piece of land in the Pacific, legal correspondence with notaries alongside information about the geological formation, myths and legends, and the possibility, if so desired collectively by the co-owners, to turn it into a marine protected area upon acquisition. But first and foremost, the video includes imagery of Mehetia and the oceans surrounding the island that discuss the collective imaginary and fantasies of the piece of land that is to be acquired jointly, and will become part of the crowdfunding campaign.