Four New Zealand Artists On Confronting Colonialism

A national anniversary such as Waitangi Day is a time we put aside, as a country, to reflect together. While the political theatre rages on in formal settings, we talked to four New Zealand artists whose ongoing work addresses thoughts around our heritage, and asked them for their take on Aotearoa today.

**Where are we heading in terms of cultural integration? How can art, design and visual culture help in this process?
**Art is a vital part of keeping matauranga Māori alive, to promote a Māori worldview where Pākehā views usually dominate, prevail in the art world. I see it as an intrinsic part of our culture, within all of us, that we can use to work through our feelings and heal from the colonial history of our people and land, to turn something very sad into something constructive. Create an ongoing dialogue, so that we may move into a more knowing state of co-existence.

**If you could create a new word for the term, “post-colonisation” or “neo-colonisation” what would it be?
**“Postcolonialism" is a nebulous term, but I don't think there is any point in slapping new labels on to old terms. What is needed is understanding, sensitivity, and guidance on how to become more conscious.

**If you were able to time-travel back to February 1840, what would you do differently in the creation of New Zealand’s founding document?
**If I could travel back to 1840, I would become the next Māori prophet, and no one would be signing that document.

**Which aspects of colonisation do you address through your work? Which key messages would you like people to think about?
**Sometimes I get really scared that my work isn't "brown" enough, that perhaps I am too quiet with my work. I utilise photography—a medium created by the coloniser which always makes me feel as though perhaps I am not subverting anything. But then I also try to remind myself that being who I am and having the beliefs that I do is how I address these issues.

When you make an artwork you are inevitably putting a part of yourself in it or exploring a part of your identity. You draw upon your experiences and influences and as a person of Samoan, Cook Island and New Zealand European heritage that will always be at play in my work even if it does so quietly and not so obviously. No one person has had the same experience as the next and to think that that is the case and that all Pacific art for instance should deal with identity or issues of colonisation in a certain way is a really narrow minded way to think. I will always make work that addresses colonisation because of who I am, where I am from, what I believe in, who my family are. The fact that I have a privileged position of being able to make art and work in the arts as a person of mixed heritage is probably the biggest way I do it.

My work looks to the land as a way of connection. I have always been fascinated with the concept of time and how the land is essentially a physical document of this. It has seen and experienced many battles and lives and will continue on when perhaps humans will not.

**What would an ideal future Aotearoa/New Zealand look like to you?
**I often think about this in terms of how I would like the future to be for my niece and nephew to grow up in. With that in mind I would like honest and respectful cultural engagement within all facets of life - not just the arts. More renters rights for housing, more affordable housing. More initiatives like I Love Avondale which aim to pull together community and resources to assist those in need. People of colour in senior positions in all galleries, museums, businesses and beyond. Proper pay for those working in the arts. No child poverty. Criticism and accountability but also with change that then comes from those discussions. Proper sex education in schools that also talks about consent and respect. Not having to always assert your position as a person of mixed race and not having to say how I am 'pacific' enough for people both outside of and within that culture. More female artists being represented and exhibited. An emphasis on empowering people not bringing them down. Equality. So many things.

**Is it possible to make artwork and simply ignore colonisation?
**The short answer is no. Everything I do is influenced by my surroundings, art included. Using my environment means I get to explore the juxtaposition between my heritage and any contemporary subject of today. It was almost mandatory for our tupuna to use the environment as tools and as a medium to create and convey ideas. Being an advocate for technology and movies like Star Wars means I illustrate sci-fi imitation of ta moko and whakairo.

My artwork is influenced by both my cultural upbringing and my current surroundings. It would not be possible to explore the juxtaposition between my heritage and any contemporary subject of today, without acknowledging colonisation within artwork. Following the colonisation of New Zealand, art has developed as the country moved forward together.

**Where are we heading in terms of cultural integration? How can art, design and visual culture help in this process?
**Although we are not there yet, there is a shift in the discussion around the compulsory teaching of Te Reo in schools, indicating greater support for cultural integration. This is one step of many to come, and I feel optimistic about the future. Art, design, and other forms of visual media have a great ability to impact this shift, and create positive attitudes towards cultural integration. By visually intertwining cultures, art can build bridges between them and make cultural integration processes more fun. New Zealand is heading towards an even more culturally blended future, and there is an opportunity for art and design to really explore what this looks like.

**How do aspects of colonisation feature in your work. What do you want your audience to think about?
**At this moment in time, I have a decolonising art practice where I seek to unravel the systematic inequalities that are placed upon the Pacific body and artist/curator by the forces of colonisation. The Western art canon is, for the moment, the centre, the standard. Anything else is referenced in terms of how much it differs from this standard. However, decolonising art practices seek multiple “centres” that were in existence before Western contact and colonisation, and can coexist.

Perhaps the key message I would like people to think about is to actively challenge the things in our daily lives that need questioning and changing. Essentially, to live with a critical mind in everything we take-in and experience.

**If you could create a new word for the term, “post-colonisation” or “neo-colonisation” what would it be?
**I don't like to use the term "post-colonisation" as it assumes that we are living in an era after colonisation. Colonisation never ended. So I prefer "neo-colonisation" as a better description so we can ask ourselves "who are the new colonials?". What is so eerie about neo-colonisation is that it is so inconspicuous. For me, it is an unseen process that cloaks our bodies and minds every single day. I can't think of a new word for neo-colonisation, but to make this process more visible is to perhaps view neo-colonisation as globalisation.