Island Achiever
Reflecting Island Aspirations and Interests
That's what artist Peter Bubulu tries to achieve
At one time the sand surface around the man-made islands of Adagege and Sulufou on Malaita would be etched with amateur pictorials of animals, people and daily village life.
Those scratchy, short-lived graphics belonged to Peter Kennedie Bubulu, now a Honiara-based freelance graphic artist and president of the Artist Association of Solomon Islands. Growing up around Lau Lagoon on the islands of Adagege and Sulufou and Foula on mainland Malaita, his maternal roots, and Olufera his paternal side, Bubulu would regularly indulge in his latent talent.
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Simple drawings on sand eventually transformed into serious, refined art depicting Bubulu's passion for things traditional and quintessentially Solomons.
Art is identity. For Bubulu it's a channel to artistically expose the Solomon Islands to the world. He wants you to immediately distinguish Solomon Islands art forms from, say, Vanuatu art, or Tongan art.
Engraved into Bubulu's upper left cheek is a figure resembling the sun identifying his Lau Lagoon roots. That is the sort of instant recognition he would like for his artwork or other Solomon Islands art; see the craft know its origin.
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With nine provinces the country is a rich cauldron of custom and material culture for Bubulu to draw ideas from. His work imitates life. Take for instance the mural in Honiara's ANZ Bank on Mendana Avenue, which he painted in 1994: Salt water people bartering fish for inland dwellers' root crops and Malaitan women carving shell money.
"I would like to find a way that Solomon Islanders can come up with an identity, from an artistic perspective," says Bubulu.
"For instance, Australian Abori-ginal art is very distinctive. "I collect traditional motifs and images, blend them through painting according to my own interpretation and try not to get carried away with contemporary ideas. My feel for art goes back to my roots. Graphics for advertising work though remains separate from my traditional paintings."
With a New Zealand Overseas Development Assistance scholarship, Bubulu did his formal training in graphic design at the Auckland Institute of Technology, now the Auckland University of Technology, from 1995 to 1998. Apart from graphic design, Bubulu specialises in signage, screen printing, illustrations and mural design. His other works can be seen in Honiara's National Bank of Solomon Islands, Point Cruz Branch, and the Development Bank of Solomon Islands. And if you're flying out of Henderson Airport, you'll see his paintings above the check-in counters.
Bubulu, whose talent developed during his high school years at Su'u Secondary School on Malaita, tries to incorporate in his paintings images representing each province of the Solomon Islands.
At Henderson Airport, Bubulu dedicates nine boards to: Choiseul, Western, Malaita, Isabel, Central, Guadalcanal, Rennell & Bellona, Makira and Temotu provinces.
Bubulu was contracted by a Honiara company for a two-year period to work as a signwriter in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia.
As president of the Artist Association of Solomon Islands, Bubulu is collaborating with other local artists to revive the artists' movement in the Solomon Islands.
Last word from Bubulu: "My art reflects a commitment to our people in expressing their aspirations, interests and problems.
"This is what I try to achieve in my traditional paintings."
