Dakota's Journal

Yesterday I left French Polynesia with one thought on my mind… ‘This will not be the last return’. For one month I spent time discovering segments of my culture, and my life, through photographs and the few entries that I wrote in my paper journal. I travelled with my camera lenses to document time, and to capture life as I saw it to be, but accompanied by lenses came my journal, a booklet with one hundred paper pages for my thoughts. Thoughts about my culture, thoughts about my love as it was, and thoughts about life, life as it is, and the life that I perceived in French Polynesia. These next entries are about travel, life, culture, photography and writing… Through the eyes of, me.

Bonsoir. Papara District, Tahiti, French Polynesia. – After returning from French Polynesia last year I knew that it would not be my last visit, and now that I am back, there is so much more here for me. I have really taken a liking to life here, perhaps it is the thought that my family lived life here so long ago that remains in my thoughts. It feels like a return for me, but at the same time it feels as though I never left. I am really enjoying every minute of my time here in Papara. Life is of the essence here, and people are of the essence too.