Over the Rainbow (2023)
I was so honoured when Yuki Kihara approached me to participate in this project. To be included within the Paradise Camp exhibition has given me an opportunity to incorporate some ideas and concepts I have around Fa‘afafine identity and Bertha’s relevance to the greater library of writing, film, video and performance about Fa‘afafine.
I have designed the final outfit to include a Tuiga (headdress) informed by the traditional ones worn by women and men of high standing. I’ve deconstructed the traditional design and added the elements back in a non-traditional way.
Each of element is weighted with symbolism related to factors in my life. The five pale (rods) represent the children of Moli ma Lila Samu, my sisters and brothers. The red feathers are traditionally Fijian red parrot feathers, but in the absence of rare birds, I’ve used the feathers from an old outfit.
At the base, is a jewelled heart, which was gifted by Keiren Street, editorial hair stylist, at the funeral of Chanel Logo (BustOp). Chanel had worked on all the major fashion shows in both Sydney and Auckland. As the jewelled heart couldn’t be cremated, I had put it in safekeeping until it could be used in something of sufficient importance to me, like this project.
Keiren Street and Elly Armitage have helped me with the final wig to which this Tuiga is attached. We have come full circle from our days of working on massive fashion shows. The pale fuiono (headband) is adorned with 10 frangipani earrings, which are designed by my niece Leone Tui. Each one represents the 10 grandchildren of Moli ma Lila Samu.
The central mirror is repurposed from a make-up compact. The mirror balls atop the pale rods signify that Bertha is a daughter of the Disco and will be until her dying day.
The hair swatches represent all the wigs I have worn in my life, not just because I am a drag queen but also because I am bald. I’d started losing my hair in my early 20s and, like religion, completely got rid of it once and for all in one fell swoop.
The ofu (dress) for this final doll is inspired by Yuki and Powerhouse Museum. We have taken a tapa (barkcloth) design from the Powerhouse Collection, digitised and printed it onto fabric. I selected the kimono opera coat design as a nod to Yuki's Japanese culture and her generosity in including me in this project but also because it's a silhouette that befits a woman of Bertha's advanced years and stature.
To keep it drag, I've glitter bombed it with gold glitter-fitti (drag graffiti, if you like). Two big Bs on the front which you could interpret as meaning Big Bertha but they could stand for anything you want: Bad Bitch, Big n Black etc – the list is endless.
When the kimono is viewed from the back, the word Fa‘afafine in super-size gold glitter is emblazoned across the back. Fa‘afafine: a word from which I had tried to escape as a young child, when I was caught restyling the hair of my sister's dolls, every single one of them! The whispers and the teasing at Church after Sunday school, being called Harold-dine, by the Taumoli girls, referencing Flip Wilson's drag character, Geraldine. Or the time I heard through the boarding school dorm rooms that the boys questioned why I spoke like a girl, followed by expectant giggling.
For as long as I have lived, people have often referred to the ‘dulcet tones’ of my voice. I am now proudly Fa‘afafine. I have Fa‘afafine forebears (my mother's uncles) and I have a Fa‘afafine in the generations after me. It's a strong thread through our aiga and I am proud of it.
