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Overview
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries T-shirts are a most accessible and widely worn form of clothing. They may appear to be ordinary everyday garments, seemingly insignificant in the regions material culture. However, T- shirts and the images on them often lay claim to culture, imagination, history and places. They are an inexpensive and mass-produced form of clothing often used by artists like a canvas, to promote their causes, ideas and identities.
Significance
This T-shirt was made by artist Siliga David Setoga of POPOHARDWEAR, a clothing company based in Auckland, New Zealand. The t-shirt is decorated with a image depicting a man with a hat standing next to a girl. It is based on a late 20th century Bonita banana label design and is a commentary on the passage that Pacific Islander migrants made to New Zealand on banana and Pacific freight trade vessels such as the Maui Pomare (1930s), the Matua (1950s) and the Moana Roa (1960s). Setoga has changed the wording on the banana label and added a phrase to read "A tribute to my people who...CAMONA BANANA BOAT".
Setoga has played with other historically accurate yet humorous definitions for Pacific Islanders such as ‘freshy’. Like ‘fob’, freshy is a derogatory term used to describe new arrivals to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands. The expressions come from the shipping term fob (‘free on board’ or ‘freight on board’) and its informal interpretation ‘fresh off the boat’, often used by traders to refer to fruit imported from the Pacific Islands. By reworking these put-downs in a humorous way, Setoga and other T-shirt designers turn them into statements of pride and identity.
Acquisition history
Setoga is of Samoan descent. His t-shirts and installation art has been exhibited widely in art galleries and museums. This t-shirt is one ofthree purchased from him in 2011.