sic transit gloria

ancientart:

As a New Zealander I thought it was high time I posted some archaeology a bit closer to home.

A very important Pacific archaeological site located on the south eastern coast of Raiatea, French Polynesia -the Taputapuatea Marae.

For those of you who don’t know, a marae is a sacred religious gathering place in Polynesian societies. This particular marae was already established by 1000 AD, and was once known as the religious centre and central temple of Eastern Polynesia. Here, people such as priests and navigators would meet to share knowledge and preform sacrifices to the gods.

Member of the Moari iwi Te Rangi Hīroa (anthropologist, politician), upon visiting the site in 1929 was overcome with grief due to the state of the once great marae, and consequently wrote:

I had made my pilgrimage to Taputapu-atea, but the dead could not speak to me. It was sad to the verge of tears. I felt a profound regret, a regret for — I knew not what. Was it for the beating of the temple drums or the shouting of the populace as the king was raised on high? Was it for the human sacrifices of olden times? It was for none of these individually but for something at the back of them all, some living spirit and divine courage that existed in ancient times of which Taputapu-atea was a mute symbol. It was something that we Polynesians have lost and cannot find, something that we yearn for and cannot recreate. The background in which that spirit was engendered has changed beyond recovery. The bleak wind of oblivion had swept over Opoa. Foreign weeds grew over the untended courtyard, and stones had fallen from the sacred altar of Taputapu-atea. The gods had long ago departed.

(ref: D. Hanlon, Voyaging Through the Contemporary Pacific)

Fortunately, as of 1994, the archaeological remains of Taputapuatea has been restored, and is currently being pushed to become a recognized United Nations World Heritage site.

Photos courtesy & taken by Pierre Lesage.

dawnawakened:

Johann Ryno De Wet, Underland (2009)

“My methodology for creating images starts with writing down the events of the dream as soon as I’ve woken up. Sometimes I’ll make sketches to help me remember particular visual details of the dream. I use this information to look for subject matter in my environment that has elements matching those of the environment of the dream. I then use digital manipulation to combine different visual elements to create the environments and the atmosphere I experienced in the dream. This is an important part, as it is where I transform my vision into a tangible medium. The meaning of a dream is the most important part, as it forms the backbone of the project. I therefore focus on using dreams that have a lasting effect on me, or is meaningful to me in some way. To me life is an existential journey and dreams can play an important part in learning how to deal with the complexities of living and can help to see things from a different perspective. The materializing of my dreams into images is a process which helps me understand myself and life better.” - Artist’s Statement