Photos by Floyd K. Takeuchi
To help shed light on the “widening rift between the small but growing Micronesian immigrant population in these islands and the open hostility they often face by locals,” Floyd K. Takeuchi — our cover photographer and writer for this issue of The Hawai‘i Herald — curated a photography exhibit at the Downtown Art Center this fall called “The Micronesians,” featuring various accomplished women within Hawai‘i’s community wearing a “Micronesian skirt.” As Takeuchi explained in his cover story, the women wearing the “Micronesian skirt” — which is actually not “Micronesian” as it’s commonly worn by islanders from Pohnpei, Chuuk and Kosrae — is a “modest attempt to force locals in Hawai‘i to face their own prejudices. It uses the so-called ‘Micronesian skirt’ as a symbol of the latent discrimination that festers in our contemporary society.” Sprinkled among the beautiful black-and-white portraits of women wearing the “Micronesian” skirts are photos taken by Takeuchi throughout the years as he was born and raised in the Marshall Islands and spent most of his 45-year career as a journalist covering stories in the region. To purchase “The Micronesians” go to blurb.com/b/11239597-the-micronesians.
