A Conversation of Cousins

Our Playbook on Identity & Memory

With contributions from the many varied artists of the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in Long Beach, CA, and in relationship with community.

A Note on Engaging with Our Playbook:

First, remember that we created this with you in mind; we created this because of love. Take pause, breathe deep, and consider,

what are your thoughts as you hold us in your hands?

We begin by acknowledging that we are community members first before we are artists or activists or academics. We do not pretend to be experts in anything beyond our own practices, our own engagements with memory and culture, and in our community building. This said, this playbook was made with nourishment as its intention. It was made to support journeys that we’ve each gone through, and surely, will go through again and again, through the many iterations of self.  

Dedication:

We dedicate this playbook to our ancestors for the teachings they passed on, in hopes that we would know our histories and therefore our futures. To our grandmothers and grandfathers for the journeys they have taken for us. To our aunties and uncles for providing for us. To our mothers and fathers for loving us. And, to you, our siblings and our cousins, for being in community with us…

Introduction:

This playbook was dreamed upon as an answer to the desire to hold community more tenderly. This desire was founded upon the ache to be in dialogue and to build bridges across fissures that have been broken between us. In conversation, I was deeply affected by a question the artist and activist, Kiana “Kiki” Rivera, posed to the gathered group:

“will we deny our cousins because of a political mapping we didn’t even create?”

— Kiki Rivera

They were referencing the territorial lines and divisions imposed upon the Pacific by the colonial West as a way to compartmentalize and incision between cultures not separated by, but bound together by the waters. 

I found myself inspired to bridge between who I considered cousins rather than abide by the same lines of divisions put forth by colonial powers. This is, ultimately, how the anthology came to be referenced as “upon shared waters,” because that is exactly as we are – connected by the waters we stem and are nurtured from. Further, as we dived and continue dive in deeper, we’ve realized that the communal dialogue is constant and ongoing; it is a conversation happening, truly, between “cousins.” 

We hope that this playbook grows our community further. In fact, we hope that it can support repair, creation, and growth of many communities so that more conversations can take place, all of which can help each of us continue upon our journeys, in the solo and communal act of  finding our ways home. 

Artist Contributors