Context (CMS Context)
Raymond notes "I made it in response to some of the hula skirts I saw in the collections ...., it is a hula skirt of sorts.... but it is also a musical instrument a rattle, as the shells make such a great noise.... [I'd] love to record it for you guys as part of it's living dynamic.... It went for a few outings and did a spoken word performance with me, before it became part of the installation, her name is Soul Shaker from the poem I performed with her, called Hold onto your Soul." When asked how Raymond felt the skirt should be boxed in the Museum's geographical storage system, she replied that "it was made here in the UK and this effected the materials as the fibre you would use in the islands are impossible to get in NZ and even more so in the UK. I would of used hibiscus fibre called Fau, if I was in the islands..... the natural raffia is easy to access here but not the plastic stuff which came all the way from New Zealand, the shells are from Samoa as is the technique for making the skirt.... though I have adorned it with the shells which is not a common technique anywhere that I can think of..... as I was interested in it making a noise.... so maybe Samoa might be best as that is where the technique is from.... My Polynesian body is the vessel for the ancestor, the space where the genealogical matter comes together, binding the past with the present. So when I meet taonga (cultural treasures) that have been long dormant in museums, I activate a space between the past and the present, I enable them to be present.... this in turn activating the ‘mauri'.... (the spark of life, sustains existence and form)....so it is my presence that brings the collections and I together, binding us all together, creating a living dynamic which can be then taken out of the spatial confines of the box or case."

Event Date 25/1/2011
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Skirt of yellow plastic raffia, with natural and dyed raffia, decorated with pule (cowrie), called 'Soul Shaker'.
Event Date 25/1/2011
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Following the skirt's acquisition after Pasifika Styles but before the skirt was formally accessioned into the collections, it worn by Raymond during her performance at the opening ceremony for Semisi Fetokai Potauaine's exhibitions, Tatau: Fenapasi 'o e Fepaki and Tatau: Symmetry, Harmony and Beauty, on 15th July 2010. Semisi was an artist in residence at the Museum, funded by Commonwealth Connections and Arthington Davy Fund.
Event Date 11/2/2011
Author: Rachel Hand