11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

NOTES 1 Ranginui Walker, Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou Struggle without End , Penguin Books, Auckland, 1990, p.9. 2 BJ Dalton, War and Politics in New Zealand 1855–1870 , Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1967, p.71. 3 Anna-Marie White (ed.), ‘Te Kiwai o te Kete’, in Brett Graham: Tai Moana Tai Tangata [exhibition catalogue], Govett- Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, NZ, 2021, pp.13–54. 4 Deidre Brown, ‘Intersecting lines’, Interstices 4: Journal of Architecture and Related Arts , 1996, p.1; <interstices. ac.nz/index.php/Interstices/ article/view/566/537>, viewed February 2024. 5 Dick Scott, Ask that Mountain: The Story of Parihaka , Raupo Publishing, Auckland, 2008. 6 Anna-Marie White, p.21. The colonisation of Brett Graham’s homeland, Aotearoa New Zealand, by the British during the era of European expansionism was a process predicated on assumptions of racial, religious and cultural superiority. The first Governor of New Zealand, Captain William Hobson (1792– 1842), appointed in 1840, promised to uphold — under treaty — Māori rights to land, homes and possessions. 1 Hobson and his successors, however, set about acquiring Māori land and expropriating Māori resources for white settlers. In 1858, when numerous tribes formed the Kīngitanga (also known as the Māori King movement) to peacefully resist this subjection, Governor Thomas Gore Browne (1807–87) declared war. 2 Graham’s presentation in the Asia Pacific Triennial, Tai Moana Tai Tangata — an installation combining moving image and monumental sculpture — provides portals into this time in Aotearoa’s history. The film Ohawe 2020 marks a significant site within the geography of this installation; the river settlement marking both the southern boundary maintained by the Taranaki Māori after the first phase of the New Zealand wars of the 1860s and the final resting place of Grahamʼs great-grandfather Te Ngarue. Five arresting sculptures speak to structures created by both the British and the Māori during this time. Meticulously researched and superbly crafted, each of these sculptures embodies physical and spiritual resonance for Māori. 3 Reaching over nine metres tall, the monumental Cease Tide of Wrong-Doing 2020 is inspired by the mast-like niu poles from Pai Mārire, a peace-based faith established in Taranaki (in the western North Island) by leader Te Ua Haumēne during the New Zealand wars. Pai Mārire followers believed niu were sacred structures that captured divine messages. 4 The arms of Graham’s contemporary niu borrow the form of pātaka (storehouses) in the Taranaki settlement of Parihaka which represent a transition period where Māori were becoming aware of capitalism and the Parihaka prophets weary of it. The arms of Graham’s contemporary niu borrow the form of intricately carved pātaka (storehouses). Like the niu, the contents of pātaka were plundered by the British during the New Zealand wars. 5 The similarly imposing Grande Folly Egmont 2020 — a stark white timber structure pierced with loopholes — adapts the architectural form of the Cape Egmont Lighthouse to reference the tall watchtowers and redoubts that studded the plains of Taranaki. The form also refers to the armed constabulary tower of the Manaia Redoubt, which was built in 1880 to enforce the confiscation of Taranaki coastal lands, and the violent invasion of the pacifist Parihaka settlement by British troops in 1881. Carved in the renowned Ātiawa style, Maungārongo ki te Whenua, Maungārongo ki te Tangata 2020 refers to both the displacement of Māori from their lands and the wagons of food and water that the Pai Mārire residents of Parihaka shared with land surveyors and road builders employed by the government to confiscate their lands. Such gestures of goodwill confused and frustrated government officials, who responded in 1881 by mounting military action against Parihaka. 6 Two final works beckon audiences towards the Maiwar (Brisbane River). The first is Puratapu Pōuriuri (Black Shroud) 2020, a long, black velvet shroud patterned with the insignia of the British armed forces that forms a route in the gallery space. By walking this path, visitors re-enact the British troops’ long march of invasion, from the Mangatāwhiri River in the Waikato region of the upper North Island to the Waingongoro River in South Taranaki. At the end of this path stands O’Pioneer 2020, a stout, white, three-metre-high turret, patterned with an elaborate filigree design. The sculpture replicates the gun turrets of the Pioneer , a paddle-steamer commissioned in 1863 by the New Zealand government and built in Sydney for the invasion of the Waikato region. The ornate plaster resembles the decorative icing of Queen Victoria (reigned 1837–1901) and Prince Albert’s 1840 wedding cake. The work is a memorial to Victorian England. As we look back to Puratapu Pōuriuri (Black Shroud) , Queen Victoria is again implicated — the textile of death doubling as the veil worn by Victoria after the passing of her husband in 1861. In creating Tai Moana Tai Tangata as an ode to both the Taranaki Māori and his own iwi, the Tainui Māori, Brett Graham resurrects the pact — known today as Te Kīwai o te Kete — forged between the two iwi (tribes) during the New Zealand wars. Transported to the banks of the Maiwar for the Asia Pacific Triennial, this pact finds renewed significance in creating space to consider local histories of encounter, violence and greed, as well as relationships of resistance and solidarity, and the resilience of culture. RUTHMcDOUGALL NGĀTI KOROKĪ KAHUKURA, TAINUI BORN 1967, TĀMAKI MAKAURAU (AUCKLAND), AOTEAROA NEWZEALAND LIVES+WORKS INWAIUKU, AOTEAROA NEWZEALAND BRETTGRAHAM (left) O’Pioneer 2020 / White cement, fibreglass and steel frame / 300 × 400cm (diam.) / Courtesy: The artist / With special thanks to Matene Sisnett, Darren and Michelle Engelbrecht, Gareth Curd, Greg and Ali Lang, Eugene Kara and whānau, Misty Ratima and Paula Crowther; (right) Grande Folly Egmont 2020 / Wood and synthetic polymer paint / 680 × 318cm / Courtesy: The artist / Photographs: Neil Pardington ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 92 — 93