I am have been rather sparse on the blog front this little while, and I am in full prep mode for my very first every solo exhibition.
Commence freak out!
As part of the GradDip year, we are expected to conduct a mid-year exhibition of our year long body of work. That is as scary as it sounds! However I do believe there is magic in the madness, the idea being that you exhibit your developmental ideas and work, and then with the feedback and critique that you will ultimately get, you can spend the rest of the year pushing and refining the work, more so than if you just exhibited at the end of the year.
In theory that sounds great, in practice it can be quite stressful, but still very rewarding.
My exhibition opens on Friday, and I am still making pieces to go in it. Nothing new there though, I always knew I would still be making and developing work to the last minute.
Here is the most current iteration of the artists statement about this body of work. I say most current because I have constant itchy fingers to tinker and change it over and over, but right now I do not have the time!
Product of New Zealand?' is an exhibition of developmental work created as part of my GradDip BAppA (Photography) from Whitireia Polytechnic.
This body of work is a visual extension of ideas and experiences I have had all my life, about identity, personal narrative, and my place in the Pacific diaspora. As a New Zealand born afa’kasi of Samoan / Dutch descent, identity has long been a contested space for me, debated and pondered by both myself, and (whether I liked it or not) by others.
I am a migrant daughter in a colonised land – where is my place?
My work finds a solid foundation in the rich artistic, literary and academic landscape surrounding ideas of identity and the Pacific diaspora in Aotearoa. Many have gone before me and paved this path, it is my hope I can contribute to it, in some small way.
I am inspired and challenged by questions around Pacific stereotypes, idealisations and the creation of the ‘other’. ‘Dusky Maidens’ of seductive velvet paintings and kitsch romanticisms are reclaimed and reworked. Whose Pacific do they represent? Whose gaze did they satiate?
My own place in the Pacific landscape, and my own identification as a Pacific person is questioned and scrutinised. To understand where I stand, I first must understand where I have come from, and therefore my own diasporic narrative is uncovered, artefacts and evidence from my own family story are unearthed, documented and utilised.
Processes used and experimented with include photography, alternative and archaic photographic practices, digital collage, projection, poetry and moving image installation.
This exhibition represents a starting point, from which a much larger and longer term body of work is sure to spring.
Happen to be around Wellington? Then come on down and say hi!
Nga mihi
Leala