Water plays a significant role in shaping who we are as island people. Now, a new art-ivism exhibition at the Guam Museum is using creativity to confront the environmental threats facing our waters – and to spark action across the Marianas.
As Guam's region grapples with water contamination and environmental challenges, the new exhibition aims to spark conversations about the importance of protecting our sacred waters. Ta Nå’i Ånimu brings together artists from across the region to explore water as a lifeline, a memory, and a symbol of resistance.
Now in its second year, Ta Nå’i Ånimu – meaning to give your entire spirit – centers on the theme “Sacred Waters.”
Organized by the Micronesian Climate Change Alliance and Hita Litekyan, the exhibition is an art-ivism initiative bridging creative expression with environmental advocacy. More than 30 artists from Tinian, Rota, Saipan, and Guam are featured, examining our waters at a greater depth.
Kacey Bejado, an exhibition curator, said, “The exhibition looks at water as something that holds memory, but also now carries harm, yet holds possibility for the future.” She added that says the works directly respond to urgent realities facing island communities – from contamination and deep seabed mining to aquifer over-drawing in Saipan, and accelerating coastal damage across the Marianas."
Among the participating artists is Joseph Certeza, a heritage artist reflecting on the responsibility island communities share to protect what remains of their most vital resource. “It is the only resource that we have left. It is all we got and any kind of contamination to it, whether it’s dieldrin or whatever it may be, that’s all we have left. That’s something that’s very sacred to us," he said.
For Joshua Barrigada, the exhibition is also about giving a voice to the voiceless. “I think what my piece talks about most is how there’s a certain amount of us who maybe have the privilege to do that kind of activism, to be in a protest," he shared. “And there’s a lot of friends of ours and people who maybe work for DoD or work closely with the military, and they want to be there [at protests], but they can’t.”
Fellow artist Andrew Gumataotao also challenges how information reaches – or fails to reach – the public when indigenous knowledge and voices are overshadowed by technical language and rapid development. “What can we do as artists to refuse that knowledge erasure? I think that’s something we have a responsibility to do," he said.
And designer Abby Crain is finding her own ways to engage – blending fashion, movement, and storytelling to draw people in. “People don’t read, people don’t have all the information and so this could just be the entry way or beginning point to provoke that initial interest so that they can research a little bit more, get more involved in the community," she said.
The exhibition opens to the public this Saturday at the Guam Museum from 3 to 7pm, featuring performances, a capsule fashion show, children’s activities, and opportunities to take part in water justice efforts across the Marianas.
The exhibit runs through February 28.