New Zealand Executive Government Speech Archive

The degrees and diplomas offered by educational institutions reflect the values of society. They change to keep abreast of changes in attitude and knowledge and to motivate change itself.

In creating the Bachelor of Maori Visual Art, Massey University has responded to a desire for a formal recognised qualification in Maori visual art. I congratulate Massey and in particular Mason Durie, Head of the Maori Studies Department, for what I am sure will turn out to be a farsighted move. Contemporary Maori art is already a vigorous area of cultural activity in New Zealand and a degree course can only encourage further experimentation and development in this field.

Contemporary Maori art has a strong tradition. It is not just an event of the late 20th century. While retaining a strong sense of identity and continuity with tradition, Maori visual art has responded imaginatively to many fundamental changes. These changes encompass enormous shifts in Maori society and the considerably increased array of materials and media that have become available to artists. The tradition of Maori visual art is consequently dynamic and varied.

A recent publication draws particular attention to one aspect of this rich visual history. Painted Histories by Roger Neich is the first comprehensive study of a blossoming that occurred in Maori figurative painting in the 1870s.

This painting was, in its own day, and indeed even to today's eyes, innovative and exciting. It is colourful and often lyrical and exploits the main coloured pigments that had only relatively recently become available to Maori. It incorporates contemporary images alongside historical figures and traditional iconography.

In the forward to Painted Histories, Cliff Whiting states: The value of this book is that it provides our art with a continuity and describes the evolution and sequences of development to which contemporary Maori artists still belong.

No doubt some of the more innovative undertakings were not without controversy in their own time. Some artworks that are now regarded as taonga may well have been regarded originally as radical, for they departed from tradition. Any history of cultural expression will reveal these types of tensions, but perhaps they are more pronounced when a culture has been subject to considerable change, and the art produced tries to reconcile tradition with the new.

Many of the delegates to this conference will be aware of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Act 1994. This Act brought about a number of important changes in the structure of the Arts Council. There is now one Council which is responsible for overall policy direction of the organisation. Two boards, which distribute funding to cultural programmes and projects, report to the Council.

One of the most significant changes brought in with this Act has been the creation of a Maori Arts Board, Te Waka Toi, which is responsible for delivering funding to Maori arts. Previously the delivery of funding to Maori projects was undertaken by a body that was a subsidiary to the main Council. Te Waka Toi, in comparison, has equal status with the Arts Board which delivers funding to all New Zealanders.

Contemporary Maori art is gaining in energy and significance in New Zealand. It is also demonstrating a wealth of diversity and vitality. Both the Auckland City Art Gallery and the Wellington City Art Gallery have recently mounted major exhibitions of contemporary Maori art.

The Auckland exhibition Korurangi, New Maori Art was a most elegant exhibition of selected artworks. It was also, most importantly, a firm gesture of commitment to Maori culture with which to launch the NEW Contemporary Gallery.

Maori artists will from time to time, like most other artists, refer to political issues in their work. It transpired, as no doubt most of you are aware, that the Auckland exhibition was not without controversy. The Diane Prince work was withdrawn from the exhibition as it was perceived by the Gallery's legal advisers to contravene the Flags, Emblems and Names Protection Act 1981.

I didn't see the work, so cannot pass an opinion on the validity of their action, but I have to say that I see art as a very valid vehicle for political expression. In fact Id be so bold as to say that it is be far preferable to some of the forms of political expression which well all be subject to in the months leading up to October 12.

But, back to the major exhibitions. Patua, in Wellington, was large, inclusive and busy. For three weeks during the International Festival of the Arts, the Gallery became a venue for an energetic series of programmes that connected with Maori visual art. In a sense it became a marae; a meeting place and a place for the celebration and exploration of Maori culture.

Cultural expression is closely bound to a sense of identity for all cultures of the world. It is heartening to see initiatives like the Bachelor of Maori Visual Art and this Conference of Contemporary Maori Art which confirm the vital importance of Maori art and help sustain and enrich its relevance for all of us in the future.

Thank you for your invitation to be here today. It gives me great pleasure to open the conference.