fundrising exhibition NARASIRATO - WARATO'O by Jason Mayall

PRIVATE VIEW & ALBUM LAUNCH WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 6-9 PM


Take a step back in time, to another world. But it's our time, our world.

Jason Mayall's photographic portraits of village life in the South Pacific
focus on NARASIRATO, a 16 piece bamboo band. The ensemble of Are'are
farmers and fishermen playing hand made instruments live in Oterama,
a remote jungle village at the end of a mangrove swamp off the lagoon
on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Living a subsistence lifestyle close
to nature, the vibrant colours of their homeland and Melanesian culture
can be seen and heard in the images and through their music.

Jason travelled to their home in late 2011 to document their lives after
touring with the band in Europe and Japan. Whilst on tour NARASIRATO
recorded a full length studio album in Amsterdam. WARATO'O will be
released March 5th this year, to be followed by another set of dates
at major Australasian and European music festivals.

Their islands and the people face challenges which resonate with us all,
threatened by consumerism, rising sea levels, logging and climate change.
This is a fundraising exhibition and proceeds from artworks sold will help
towards the purchase of a boat for the village, giving them much needed
access to the wider world.

"WARATO'O is the truth, WARATO"O is love, friendship, power, WARATO'O
is working together, sincerity, WARATO'O is present, punctual, WARATO'O
is all these things and we live in that, when we play music, when we work
in the garden, when we do fishing, when we go hunting in the bush,
anything at all we have WARATO'O in us, and we live by that"
- Donation Manu'asi -