'Never doing anything for my culture again': How a Niu FM host rose above the criticisms to produce a doco about her culture

A proud NZ-born Cook Islands, single mother of "two beautiful children" and Niu FM Days host will premiere a new documentary that culminates her struggle towards reconnecting with her culture.

The Vaka That Waited by Chelsea Cuthers-Munro (Arorangi in Rarotonga, Mangaia) will premiere tomorrow at the Māngere Arts Centre, but she says the journey towards that day did not begin easily.

Speaking to Brian Sagala on Pacific Mornings, Cuthers-Munro says she has worked at Pacific Media Network for almost a decade now and recalls when she produced a video on the Cook Islands' dish Mainese, an exciting prospect at the time.

"I let my mum know I did my first Cook Islands piece so I was feeling really good about it," Cuthers-Munro says.

However, she says "hurtful comments" cropped up, questioning her heritage asking "whose family is she from? Embarrassing" to "tell this white girl to leave our culture alone".

Screengrab from documentary teaser video. Photo/YouTube

"Having those kinds of comments affirmed my lack of belonging in my culture," Cuthers-Munro says.

"From there I shut down and I went into this little thing of 'I'm never doing anything for my culture again, if that's how I'm going to be received then I don't want to do anything again'."

Cuthers-Murno says being fair looking, not being able to speak her Cook Islands language alongside her cultural exposure being limited to funerals or weddings made it hard for her to come to terms with her identity.

Today she calls her initial reaction to the aforementioned comments "a bit dramatic", and that her first step towards reclamation was learning the Cook Islands national anthem.

"As a 27-year-old, I had never heard it before in my life. Music is a really great tool for me to catch on to speaking and pronunciation."

Cuthers-Munro says she was then asked to sing with popular Cook Islands music artist Rex Atirai and from that point on she told herself: "This is a problem that I can either cry about or do something about it."

She then set a goal of doing an annual Cook Islands project for each Cook Islands language week, with The Vaka That Waited being her "biggest one yet".

The Vaka That Waited: Moving from trauma and shame to healing and empathy

Her short film, which has been in the works for three years, covers Cuthers-Munro's journey towards rediscovery, reconnection and reclamation of her roots in the Cook Islands, highlighting the struggles of many who may feel disconnected from their cultural heritage.

The documentary emphasises themes of healing and empowerment with Cuthers-Munro finding solace, a renewed sense of identity and a profound feeling of belonging as she sets sail on her vaka, navigating back to her roots.

Tomorrow's premiere at the Māngere Arts Centre will have music and a live panel of the film crew and key figures in the community.

Screengrabs from documentary's teaser video. Photo/YouTube

Cuthers-Munro says she wanted to curate an experience and that the panel gives audiences the ability "to ask questions and to unpack a bit of what went on in the documentary together as one".

"[There's] so much power and vulnerability when you can connect with people and everyone finds out they're not in this vaka alone.

"We all are struggling and have different kinds of insights in perspectives that are valuable for our journey.

"I don't know if it's across the board with our Cook Islands community there's this demonising of what you don't understand.

"So you've got the older generation like 'oh you can't speak', 'you're papa'ā (White or English) looking', 'that's not how you do it'."

"Then you've got our generation like 'well whose fault is it? We only know what we know.'"

"So I want to move out of this space of shame, blame and trauma and into a space of healing through empathy and compassion."

Watch the full interview via 531pi's Facebook page below: