In December of 1862 eight ships approached a solitary volcanic island located in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean. This was the year that the fate of the island’s beleagured population was sealed; a population that had evolved in cultural isolation to produce works of art that have become one of the wonders of the world. This film shows who really built these statues, and why. It attempts to explain how the island’s history left little of its culture intact apart from its art.
Georgia Lee received her Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of California at Los Angeles, based upon six years of fieldwork on Easter Island. Support for the fieldwork came from the University Research Expeditions Program, University of California, Berkeley. Her Masters degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, is in the field of Primitive Art.
Aside from her work on Easter Island, Lee has done extensive archaeological work in Hawaii, documenting the rock art and petroglyphs in those islands. California research areas include Chumash rock art sites and those of the Modoc, at Lava Beds National Monument. One of her particular interests is conservation and preservation of archaeological sites.
Text from the Introduction to Rapa Nui, Island of Memory:- Georgia Lee is a natural story-teller with an eye for detail and an ear for nuance. Above all, there is her capacity for shared intimacy. Lee began her fieldwork on Easter Island in 1981, entering into close relationships with the islanders, both men and women. She describes her relationships with the Rapanui people, weaving strands of communal tales together, achieving a tapestry of the island unlike anything else.
Doctor Georgia Lee is Editor of the Rapa Nui Journal, The Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, published bi-annually.
