CITY Gallery and Te Papa have come together for Oceania; an exhibition celebrating the culture and arts of Aotearoa and our Pacific cousins. Artist Robin White and photographer Greg Semu both feature in City Gallery’s Oceania: Imagining the Pacific exhibit.
Robin White’s work was made in the 17 years following her move to the tropical island nation of Kiribati with her family in 1982, where they sought to become part of the large Bahá’í community living there.
“When I first moved to Kiribati, I identified with myself as a painter, so before heading off I stocked up on oil paint and canvases… We arrived there before all our stuff, and I realised right away that I was not going to be painting there,” she says.
White started drawing, and then – because wood was plentiful on the island – carving to make prints.
“Wood was durable, so it wasn’t going to get dealt to by the climate, the creatures and the people running in and out of the house. It was a process of making logical decisions in the context of where I was, rather than trying to impose something.”
White became ‘hooked’ on wood cut printmaking, but in 1995 a fire destroyed everything. White was faced with finding a new approach yet again, and collaborated with women at the Catholic Women’s Training Center to make woven mats. The resulting series New Angel, along with many of her woodcut prints, are in the exhibition.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Oceania… I feel like a Pacific Islander and I’m very honoured to be included in the show.”
Greg Semu’s photographic series The Battle of the Noble Savage, was commissioned by the musée du quai Branly in Paris. The museum wanted an artist’s response to the ‘Bonded by Blood’ Adidas campaign for the 2007 Rugby World Cup – where the varnish on a poster depicting the 39-strong squad in haka-stance, contained the DNA of all team members.
“Comprehension of the All Blacks and Maori culture in Europe is very surface level… and I wanted to give it more depth by placing it in a historical context,” he says.
The battle may be fictitious, but the images are filled with historical references and cultural anchors.
“All of the plants are native only to New Zealand, the cast members are Maori leaders and their ta moko is real, the weaponry is authentic – all antiques from the colonial wars – and the uniforms come from the movie River Queen,” he says.
“It’s a testament to tangata whenua… an homage to and also a rendition of the history of Aotearoa.”
Oceania, Te Papa and City Gallery, August 6-November 6.