Lukao

What kinds of layers go into the way we construct our auditory selves as we go about our daily lives? What sounds are heard more than others? What environments can we no longer hear? or, on the edge of collapse? What can listening do to bring us into more awareness of such issues? 

Andrew Gumataotao’s contribution to the Ta Nå’i Ånimu invites people to reflect on how listening is more than just a physiological process of the ear but one that is culturally coded and, in Indigenous worldviews, maintains good relations between individuals, environments, spirits, ancestors. Through investigating the interplay of sound and ceremony amid the militarization of the Marianas, Andrew’s work questions how sound, noise and, hearing thresholds are assessed for instance, in the EIAMD (Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense System). The ways in which sounds and cultural impacts are assessed reveals that listening is not a neutral phenomenon but rather shapes particular agendas, and is dictated by governments, corporations, and institutions. 

 The limited T-shirt series features a mishmash of news clippings, images, historical/academic texts, and graphs that focus on the significance of the relationship between the unfolding of sound, music, and bodies. The images on the Ts return attention to the power of music, chant, and Indigenous ways listening while also problematizing the disparity between how scientific environmental impact studies produced by the US military, if used narrowly, can leave out Indigenous ways of knowing and listening to environment. 

What if everyday was a lukao?

For instance, the storied Indigenous conceptions of listening that is often vocalized when asking permission before entering the jungle. Chamorros ask permission before entering the hålom tåno because mane’ekungok i manaotaomo’na (the ancestors are listening). The choice to display such images on normal clothes such as T-shirts is a call to contemplate  the everyday experiences of how culture is carried in what we wear and,  the regularly felt impacts of sonic life in a heavily militarized archipelago.