That Vase

The title of this masi is taken from the concluding line of the poem Home is so sad, by Phillip Larkin. Throughout the poem Larkin personifies an empty house and its objects as if they were longing for their owners. In a similar fashion, Robin personifies a single vase half hidden behind a doorway, peering into the uninhabited room furnished with a single table and an array of objects.

The domestic scene and its contents reflect the immediate environment in which the work is made. Nearly all of Robin’s collaborative masi works have been made in Lautoka in the living room of the home of Robin’s first collaborator Leba Toki. The lino floor of Leba’s living room is referenced in this work through a new draudrau (stencil) that lines the interior space.

Views from the windows of Leba’s living room out towards the neighbouring plantation are also referenced in this work. Rows of taro and cassava and a pair of Woodswallow in flight, are embedded within the patterned panels of the room. Other draudrau such as the rows of sugarcane and the lone image of the sugar cane factory speak specially to the industrial histories of Lautoka.

During the production of this work, Robin read local papers and collected articles for her notebooks. The arrangement of everyday objects on the table is a reference to a phrase ‘laying it all out on the table’ used in a political newscast relating to President Trump of the United States of America. This subtle political undertone is heightened by a single kerosene lamp, the only light source placed under the table and out of sight.