Early Māori photography as commodified object: Mementoes, miniatures and material culture | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Photography in the Pacific Part 2
  • ISSN: 2050-4039
  • E-ISSN: 2050-4047

Abstract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a boom in the different forms of material culture of the photographic image with the emergence of cheap methods for its mass (re)production. The material culture extended into postcards, illustrated books, magic lantern slides and stereoviews, but also into the much-less discussed area of souvenir china. These commodified objects of illustrated porcelain were popular mementoes of places visited, physical reminders of spaces encountered, made possible through newly developing modes of leisure culture and organized travel. Edwardian New Zealand was no exception, where images of the Māori were a striking presence within its visual culture. This was a country that was beginning to promote its cultural uniqueness partly through its Indigenous population, with early tourism literature referring to the country as Maoriland. New Zealand souvenirs depicted images of the Māori and Māoritanga (Māori culture) on decorative china essentially for consumption by local tourists and travellers. This article considers these commodified objects in the context of photography as material culture, exploring their social biography and the manner in which the images were reproduced and altered. It contends that in addressing keepsake china as objects bearing photographic images, and in positioning these souvenirs as popular artefacts within a scopic culture, a more complex argument of variant readings emerges.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/nzps_00039_1
2020-12-01
2024-04-20
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alessio, Dominic. ( 2010;), ‘ Travel, tourism and booster literature: New Zealand’s cities and towns at the turn of the twentieth century. ’, Studies in Travel Writing, 14:4, pp. 38396.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Andrews, Sandy. ( 1980), Crested China: The History of Heraldic Souvenir China, Horndean:: Milestone Publications;.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Anon. ( 1935), Round the World 1935 Southern Hemisphere Cruise, R.M.S. Franconia: ‘Itinerary for New Zealand’ for ‘Group No. 1’, pamphlet produced by Cunard Line in co-operation with Thos. Cook & Son;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Armstrong, Isobel. ( 2008), Victorian Glassworlds: Glass Culture and the Imagination 1830–1880, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Batchen, Geoffrey. ( 2004;), ‘ Ere the substance fade: Photography and hair jewellery. ’, in Elizabeth Edwards, and Janice Hart. (eds), Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images, London:: Routledge;, pp. 3246.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Belich, James. ( 2001), Paradise Reforged: A History of the New Zealanders. From the 1880s to the Year 2000, Auckland:: Allen Lane The Penguin Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bell, Claudia, and Lyall, John. ( 1995), Putting our Town on the Map: Local Claims to Fame in New Zealand, Auckland:: HarperCollins;.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Benjamin, Walter. ( 1999), The Arcades Project, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Blackburn, Mark. ( 2005), Women of Polynesia: 50 Years of Postcard Views 1898–1948, Atglen, PA:: Schiffer Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Blackley, Roger. ( 2018), Galleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori World, 1880–1910, Auckland:: Auckland University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Buck-Morss, Susan. ( 1991), The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project, Boston, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Burgess, Arene. ( 1996), A Collector’s Guide to Souvenir Plates, Atglen, PA:: Schiffer Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Coleridge, T. T. N.. ( 1973), Our Motoring Heritage, Wellington:: Wright & Carman;.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Collins-Kreiner, Noga, and Zins, Yael. ( 2013;), ‘ With the passing of time: The changing meaning of souvenirs. ’, in Jenny Cave,, Lee Jolliffe, and Tom Baum. (eds), Tourism and Souvenirs: Glocal Perspectives from the Margins, Bristol:: Channel View Publications;, pp. 2939.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Conrich, Ian. ( 2019;), ‘ A most curious image: Indigeneity, sign language and early Māori postcards. ’, Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies, 7:2, pp. 197200.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Daley, Caroline. ( 2003), Leisure & Pleasure: Reshaping & Revealing the New Zealand Body 1900–1960, Auckland:: Auckland University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Desmond, Jane C.. ( 1999), Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World, Chicago, IL:: University of Chicago Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Edwards, Elizabeth, and Hart, Janice. ( 2004;), ‘ Introduction: Photographs as objects. ’, in Elizabeth Edwards, and Janice Hart. (eds), Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images, London:: Routledge;, pp. 115.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Friedberg, Anne. ( 1993), Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern, Berkeley, CA:: University of California Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Friedberg, Anne. ( 2009), The Virtual Window: From Alberti to Microsoft, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Herbert, Arthur Stanley. ( 1921), The Hot Springs of New Zealand, London:: H. K. Lewis & Co;.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. King, Michael. ( 2003), Maori: A Photographic and Social History, , rev. ed.., Auckland:: Reed Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Legêne, Susan. ( 2004;), ‘ Photographic playing cards and the colonial metaphor: Teaching the Dutch colonial culture. ’, in Elizabeth Edwards, and Janice Hart. (eds), Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images, London:: Routledge;, pp. 96112.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Main, William, and Jackson, Alan. ( 2005), ‘Wish You Were Here’: The Story of New Zealand Postcards, Wakefield:: New Zealand Postcard Society;.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. McClure, Margaret. ( 2004), The Wonder Country: Making New Zealand Tourism, Auckland:: Auckland University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Pietrobruno, Sheenagh. ( 2017;), ‘ Technology and its miniature: The photograph. ’, Belphégor – Littératures populaires et culture médiatique, 15:1, n.pag., https://journals.openedition.org/belphegor/896. Accessed 3 July 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Pine, Lynda. ( 2005), Goss and Souvenir Heraldic China, Princes Risborough:: Shire Publications;.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Pine, Nicholas J.. ( 1986), Goss and Other Crested China, Princes Risborough:: Shire Publications;.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Rockel, Ian. ( 1986), Taking the Waters: Early Spas in New Zealand, Wellington:: Government Printing Office Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Stewart, Susan. ( 1993), On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Stiegler, Bernd. ( 2010), Traveling in Place: A History of Armchair Travel, Chicago, IL:: Chicago University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Urry, John, and Larsen, Jonas. ( 2012), The Tourist Gaze 3.0, London:: Sage;.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Walker, Rob. ( 2019;), ‘ Who’s that girl? Queen Victoria as we’ve never seen her before. ’, The Guardian, 19 May, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/19/queen-victoria-photography-museum-of-london-daguerreotype-stereograph-royal-images. Accessed 8 July 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Williams, Lawrence W.. ( 1998), Collector’s Guide to Souvenir China: Keepsakes of a Golden Era. Identification and Values, Paducah, KY:: Collector Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Conrich, Ian. ( 2020;), ‘ Early Māori photography as commodified object: Mementoes, miniatures and material culture. ’, Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies, 8:2, pp. 227249, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/nzps_00039_1
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/nzps_00039_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/nzps_00039_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error