RISKING KASTOM

In Vanuatu, kastom encompasses customary knowledge, beliefs and practices connecting people to their ancestors, their land and one another. Passed between generations through speech, participation and daily life, its continuity depends on being learned and practised. People in their original element continue exploring a relationship with the volcanoes, fertile land, materials and places of spiritual significance and ancestral connection at risk of extinction.

Modernisation and new waves of Christian evangelism are changing the conditions in which these practices can continue. For some people continuing kastom means risking isolation and, in certain cases, excommunication. The title holds this personal risk alongside the risk of cultural erasure. The weight of outside beliefs and ideologies is heavy on these fragile, inherited ways of life.

As exhibited in Risking Kastom

As seen in Primitiva Magazine, Vol. 2