Putting a friendly face to the information coming out of the inaugural Pacific Resilience Meeting (PRM) has been the main objective of local artist, Mr Tui Ledua, during the last three days of deliberations and discussions being held in Suva, Fiji.
Mr Ledua of Kanalevu Animation Studios specialises in digital drawings and animations. He also does live illustrations at workshops and conferences. He recently worked with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) during the Clean Pacific Roundtable and has been brought on board again for the PRM.
Most often at these meetings, there is a lot of information being shared all at the one time. Mr Ledua takes some of the main messages and most important piecesof information and delivers them in a way that is easy for people to understand and digest – through cartoons.
“Doing live cartoons for events like this is a bit more challenging because I’m working against the clock and I have to draw in real-time based on information that is being put out. I also sometimes don’t understand the issues being discussed but that’s where I break it down so that it is simpler and easier on paper for people to understand.”
Mr Ledua believes his role in communicating the messages from the PRM is to give them a “friendly face” and a bit of humour so that it is easier for all Pacific Islanders to understand.
This has been one of the main goals of the PRM, to be able to make the information relatable and understandable for everyone, and not just the professionals and experts in the fields of climate change and disaster risk reduction.
This was achieved through the involvement of Mr Ledua to do live cartoons of the proceedings and discussions as well as renowned Pacific comedian, Mr Tofiga Fepulea’i, who moderated some of the main sessions during the first two days.
Mr Ledua, reflecting on the last three days of the meeting, said “The experience of being a part of the very first Pacific Resilience Meeting has been an amazing one. I’ve been able to put out a lot more cartoons because of the amount of great information that’s been put out by different people with different perspectives so it has been a very good educational experience for me.”
For more information on the Pacific Resilience Meeting, please visit: www.resilientpacific.org.