How to balance the loyalty of your heritage while participating in an industry that is often dominated by the narratives of the islands that are not surrounding? Is there a moment when you felt power and proud in particular with your Mauritanian identity?
It was through the theater. Once I graduated from the drama school, I really wanted to start working at the Maori Theater, and I was able to do so for nearly 10 years. A lot taught me about my culture, and that was inspiring. What really realized it now is that it is extremely important to tell stories that have joy. Especially coming from the space of the Maori Theater, we have told us a lot of stories about our shock, and I feel somewhat that we are heading to more stories, as this can definitely be a campaign, but not the spread we get. The most obvious person who brought a lot of joy to our stories in the public domain, of course, Taika Waititi. He changed everything, I think, because we can all see that we can tell these stories that were not full of our historical shock. This shock is always present. This date exists; It constitutes and forms us. So definitely, many characters, this is where they come from, where we all come from. But go forward, there is a lot to celebrate it.
We have Kōhanga Reo [Māori language revival] The generation that changes things in our country. The Kōhanga Reo movement occurred in the eighties by all these amazing women; A boy, was his fruits? We see it in our wonderful young leaders and minds. Politics leaders are absolutely, but they also lead us during these difficult times, especially in this country recently.
I was far away for about a year, and I made her at home in time to see my husband’s daughter performing in Teatatini, which is very similar to Merrie Monarch and many other cultural celebrations. O boy, are they harsh. There is a lot of pressure in those competitions. Everything was done in Tranaki, where I am whakapa [descend from]. Two by me from there. So, it was completely glorious. There were many young people, and it was a beautiful mixture of generations of people who were watching there. Our language is strong. Our culture is strong.
