Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies - Volume 5, Issue 2, 2017

This article explores the notion of ‘place’, extending its scope to include the ocean, history and diaspora, in relation to six contemporary Māori and Pacific artists who were involved in the Pacifique(S) Contemporain exhibitions in Normandy, France in 2015. Structured into three sections, it addresses the three curatorial thematics that provided the overarching frame for the exhibitions. ‘The ocean is a place’ focuses on Angela Tiatia and Rachael Rakena, and acknowledges the importance of Epeli Hau’ofa’s writing in relation to the ocean and Oceania as a crucial marker of identity both within its geographic location and beyond. ‘History is a place’ considers moving image installations by Michel Tuffery and Greg Semu, in particular referencing how they rework and reimagine colonial and art historical representations and conventions. ‘Diaspora is a place’ compares the photographic practices of Ane Tonga and Edith Amituanai, whose work reflects on and captures the dynamics that emerge as Pacific communities draw on and adapt cultural traditions, and negotiate relationships mediated by their migration and diaspora experiences.

The contemporary art of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been described so far as a political form of expression revealing the postcolonial aspirations of the population since the country’s independence from Australia in 1975. However, observers, critics and anthropologists have until now neglected to take into consideration the economic aspects of art production in the country. Drawing on Karl Marx and Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of artworks as commodities and as a social field, this article describes a little-known aspect of the PNG art market. It analyses the role of cash in art production and its progression. Copied from the vegetable trade, the Papua New Guinean art market has given birth to the figure of the ‘ground buyer’. They are local intermediates who operate as usurers and have become the main interlocutors to western buyers. In comparing cash crop and art, the article underlines the versatility of PNG players in the art world and allows comparison between art production and other economic activities in urban Melanesia.

This article seeks to provide answers to questions concerning the confrontation between contemporary art and indigenous culture in French Polynesia. Observing the contemporary art world of Tahiti and its islands nowadays allows one to see how artists – whether Mā’ohi (of Polynesian descent) or those of different ancestry – insert themselves into a unified contemporary culture. The article specifically examines the place of artist Bobby Holcomb and the impact he has had on re-evaluating and redefining the local art world. Through his artistic approach, he has fostered the emergence of a new kind of relationship between contemporary art and Polynesian society. The discussion moves from the affirmation of Mā’ohi identity to the recognition of Holcomb as one of the first neo-Polynesian artists. With Holcomb, the Mā’ohi artist no longer stands alone in spreading his culture and traditions, whether past or present, but is accompanied by people who may be defined as neo-Polynesians, people who, like this foreign-born artist, contribute to define, on a daily basis, what it means to live in French Polynesia.

New Caledonia is the only French Overseas Community currently undergoing an official process of reconciliation between the French State and the indigenous minority, the Kanak people, following the mid-1980s’ unrest between the Kanaks and the Caldoches (the descendants of the French settlers). On the local level, a process of healing has unfolded between the leaders of the two estranged communities. And yet, France – namely, the successive French governments, French politicians and intellectuals – has been averse to reconciliation both as a concept and as a political process. French authorities have notably been resisting the moral pressure to present formal apologies to their former colonial subjects. This article argues that the national difficulty to come to terms with the legacy of colonization can be illustrated in New Caledonia by looking at the long amnesia over the abuses perpetrated under colonial rule and over the practices of colonial anthropology. It will focus upon the case of the remains of Kanak chief Ataï, the leader of a major rebellion against French rule in 1878. After Ataï was killed during the unrest, his severed head was shipped off to France, examined and kept in the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Ataï’s return to New Caledonia only took place on 29 August 2014. From the Kanak point of view, a long history of conflict and abuse could not come to a close without this symbolic gesture on the part of French authorities. This article addresses the circumstances that allowed Ataï’s return to his homeland. It examines the French reluctance to clearly condemn early curatorial practices associated with the repression of indigenous aspirations to freedom, and it analyses why apologies and reconciliation still present a difficulty in the French context.

Decolonisation and the Pacific: Indigenous Globalisation and the Ends of Empire, Tracey Banivanua Mar (2016) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 275 pp., ISBN 978 1 1070 3759 5 (hbk), £64.99

Belonging in Oceania: Movement, Place-Making and Multiple Identifications, Elfriede Hermann, Wolfgang Kempf and Toon van Meijl (eds) (2014) New York: Berghahn, 232 pp., ISBN 978 1 7823 8415 1 (hbk), US$95

Transpacific Studies: Framing an Emerging Field, Janet Hoskins and Viet Thanh Nguyen (eds) (2014) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 280 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3998 7 (pbk), US$25

Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds, Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins (2017) Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 228 pp., ISBN 978 0 9475 1880 6 (pbk), NZ$39.99

Te Whiti o Rongomai and the Resistance of Parihaka, Danny Keenan (2015) Wellington: Huia Publishers, 278 pp., ISBN 978 1 7755 0195 4 (pbk), NZ$45

Pushing Boundaries: New Zealand Protestants and Overseas Missions 1827–1939, Hugh Morrison (2016) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 340 pp., ISBN 978 1 9273 2217 8 (pbk), NZ$45

The Broken Decade: Prosperity, Depression and Recovery in New Zealand, 1928–39, Malcolm McKinnon (2016) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 556 pp., ISBN 978 1 9273 2226 0 (pbk), NZ$49.95

Moments of Truth: The New Zealand General Election of 2014, Jon Johansson and Steven Levine (eds) (2015) Wellington: Victoria University Press, 416 pp., ISBN 978 1 7765 6049 3 (pbk), NZ$50

A History of New Zealand Women, Barbara Brookes (2016) Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 554 pp., ISBN 978 0 9083 2145 2 (pbk), NZ$69.99

Home: Here to Stay, Vol. 3, Mere Kēpa, Marilyn McPherson, LinitA - Manu‘atu and Mere Kēpa (eds) (2015) Wellington: Huia, 218 pp., ISBN 978 1 7755 0208 1 (pbk), NZ$45

Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History, Gregory T. Cushman (2013) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 416 pp., ISBN 978 1 1070 0413 9 (hbk), £67

Isles of Amnesia; The History, Geography and Restoration of America’s Forgotten Pacific Islands, Mark J. Rauzon (2015) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 304 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 4679 4 (pbk), US$24.99

At Home and In the Field: Ethnographic Encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands, Suzanne S. Finney, Mary Mostafanezhad, Guido Carlo Pigliasco and Forrest Wade Young (eds) (2015) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 328 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 5379 2 (pbk), US$28

Making the Modern Primitive: Cultural Tourism in the Trobriand Islands, Michelle MacCarthy (2016) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 304 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 5560 4 (pbk), US$68

Māori Television: The First Ten Years, Jo Smith (2016) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 210 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0857 2 (pbk), NZ$45

The Plays of Bruce Mason: A Survey, John Smythe (2015) Wellington: Victoria University Press with Playmarket, 256 pp., ISBN 978 1 7765 6055 4 (pbk), NZ$40