Walking into our exhibition “Project Banaba,” your eyes are drawn upward to hessian sacks and voile fabric suspended from the ceiling. This is “Body of the land, body of the people.” These hessian sacks (also known as gunny sacks) reference the 20th century bags used to load and transport superphosphate fertilizer made from rock minded from Banaba to farms across Australia. Each sack is part of a timeline highlighting key events in Banaban history. Printed on the voile are early 20th century pho

Meet one of the co-curators of “Project Banaba,” Yuki Kihara, as she shares more about the dancer’s skirt featured in the exhibition. This dancer’s skirt was made from phosphate sacks sourced from Ravensdown phosphate factory in Ahuriri Napier in Aotearoa by Caren Jane Rangi. Phosphate sacks like these were a popular choice due to their lightness and sheen, but when this Cook Islands dancer made this skirt in 1982, she hadn’t known the Ravensdown factory phosphate was from Banaban and Nauruan la