Sand Drawing: Tracing Kastom in Vanuatu

More than an intricate and ephemeral artform, sand drawing in Vanuatu is a storytelling tradition, a means of communication, and an important method of knowledge preservation. Performed mostly in the northern islands of this South Pacific archipelago nation, sand drawing conveys folklore, histories, genealogies, rituals, and other forms of kastom (local, traditional knowledge). Narrators illustrate a story running a single finger through loose sand, ash, or fine dirt, often in continuous movements, forming complex geometric and symbolic patterns. Sand drawing is a UNESCO-designated Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Sand Drawing: Tracing Kastom in Vanuatu will be on display in the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, marking MOIFA’s first exhibition focused on Oceania since 1960. This exhibition is a collaboration between The Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) and the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta and National Museum (VKS). The project is an outgrowth of discussions regarding MOIFA’s ni-Vanuatu collection, the history of the collection, and a potential repatriation of kastom objects to the VKS. Together, staff from both institutions engaged in collections research and the development of the exhibition’s ideas, content, and design.

The exhibition will feature sand drawings to be created by Edgar Hinge, a sand drawing practitioner and cultural knowledge bearer who is originally from Pentecost Island. He is currently lives in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, where he works as a museum educator and guide at the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta and National Museum.

This project is sponsored in part by the US Embassy in Vanuatu, the International Folk Art Foundation and Museum of New Mexico Foundation.

Image Credit: 

Museum guide, Edgar Hinge, performs a sand-drawing story at the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta and National Museum, 2023

Sand-drawing by Edgar Hinge at the Vanuatu Cultural Center and National Museum, Port Vila, Vanuatu. 2023. Photo by Felicia Katz-Harris.