Robin Metcalfe
Navua Lotus
12 by 16 canvas

Lotus fills the drain along roadsides and irrigation ditches doubling as boarders between reserved lands and small farming plots for relocated families in Navua, in the south-eastern rainy part of Viti Levu, Fiji. The leaves and flowers climb above the refuse collecting in the drain; the lotus stems are gathered and sold as cut flowers by families bringing their produce to town for the weekend market. Weather storms and political and ethnic storms flood the land and people with waves of rain and tears, bringing great struggles, but when the storm passes lotus grows where the waters have been high.