1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

10 .-eur understanding of the present context for Maori art, shaped as it is by the gathering politicisation of Maori society inaugurated by the Land March of 1975, and energised by an expectation that longstanding grievances against the colonisers will be redressed. So that when Maori art writers are charged with “political correctness”, the charge i n dicates 7 an inability or unwillingness to recognise that almost the whole creative endeavour of Maori functions within a political and ideological context— c 7P' ** I? the present resurgenp^of Maori nationalism and culture. While formalist fc.Crc/vr*') art is certainly possible at one end of the Maori creative spectrum, mere formalist interpretation will not answer Maori needs so long as we have burning issues to address and potent messages to deliver. Thus, a Maori construction, an insider construction of our own art must be different from a Pakeha construction of contemporary Maori art, and the two perspectives may be irreconcilable. The constant danger for us is, and has been from the earliest period of Eu^c|pan settlement, that the outsider view becomes an orthodoxy in the international art community. And so we arrive at this highly prestigious forum, a little suspicious of the organisers’ motives, and a little cautious about our involvement with it. Is this yet anotherattempt to gather us in to possess us, control us, and exploit us, we wonder? To feed the west’s insatiable appetite for novelty and stimulation? To compensate for the spiritual bankruptcy of the west? Nevertheless, Maori have little choice but to engage and interact with western culture. But we are detemined to do so in our terms, with pride, dignity and humility, from our conceptual, cultural and historical perspectives, according to our traditions and customs, in our own time, and at our own pace. Jonathan Mane-Wheoki September 1993