|
|
Venue |
Building D, Level 1, East Corridor
|
Exhibition |
Lowe and Kaan together visually explore the strong historical ties between Maori and Chinese within the predominantly Anglo-Celtic narrative of New Zealand culture. Despite there having been an established Chinese presence in New Zealand at least since the gold rushes of the 1860s New Zealand Chinese culture(s) and its/their interaction with Maori and Pakeha (European) culture has largely been marginalised by the monolithic nature of New Zealand’s official Maori/Pakeha biculturalism, enshrining the founding Treaty of Waitangi (1840). This exhibition will represent a much more complex and nuanced vision of a blended reality of New Zealand identity that over time has never fitted tidily into boxes. An important note in particular is struck in terms of the strong historical ties between Maori and Chinese as animistic peoples marginalised by the dominant Pakeha/European narrative – but with a warmth and generosity that belies any postcolonial bitterness. The European (predominantly Anglo-Celtic) tradition is given due regard. Important questions are asked about the nature of contemporary New Zealand identity and how it may be reflected in a visual medium in ways that do not reek of the stale kitsch of corporate and government appropriated design. Andrew Paul Wood
|
|
|
