Acting Out for Survival. Environmental Performance Poetry in the Pacific

Climate change is the most urgent issue of the present. The countries of the Pacific Rim seem to be particularly vulnerable to its effects, as shown by the growing intensity and magnitude of extreme weather events like typhoons, cyclones, and floods. In the Southern Hemisphere, atolls are in danger due to the rise of global sea levels. Archipelagic countries like Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands are already experiencing the migration of their citizens from the outer islands to the main islands, and from the main ones to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the West coast of the USA. Poets and artists in this area have been engaged for some time in public performances to denounce the environmental emergency and sensitise global public opinion. Oral poetry is performed in public events and international official venues but is also recorded in videos, which are then uploaded to the poets’ websites. Words, acting, music, and images of the natural landscape that is at risk are turned into dramatic pieces that could be defined as a form of ‘environmental artivism’. After poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner’s performance at the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York, four Pacific Islander spoken word artists were selected from an international contest to perform at the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris. My article will illustrate how Jetñil-Kijiner’s poetry led the way in this form of artistic activism and will then analyse some works of two of the contest-winners: Terisa Siagatonu, a Samoan American poet from the Bay Area, and Eunice Andrada, a Filipina poet, educator, and social worker living in Australia. These three poets exemplify a type of artist/poet/performer who believes that art creates and inspires change.