<<<D.I.Y. (It’s in our DNA)>>>

This is one of three art works in ‘Dear Culture Vulture’ series by Luisa Tora and Molly Rangiwai-McHale.  The series responds to the appropriation of indigenous Pacific and Maori artforms and is an attempt to rework and reclaim cultural forms of celebration and protection.

According to a statement by the artists, the series “directly addresses non-Pacific and non-Maori art historians who claim expertise in the study of Pacific and Maori art forms, and further subjugate indigenous knowledge and practices by placing higher critical value on the appropriated cultural forms. It speaks pointedly to historians who call Pakeha appropriations of cultural motifs sophisticated, who claim that certain Maori artists have assumed their place in mainstream (see: Pakeha) art history because their work is stripped of the artist’s indigenous context, and who argue that by drawing indigenous collaborators from their shared religious group it makes the usurpation of cultural art techniques a form of religious practice”.

<<<D.I.Y. (It’s in our DNA)>>>

According to the artists, this work attempts “to challenge and critique the contemporary currency of the Oceanic subject in Western art, media and popular culture.” 1.
They say that “By drawing on our own cultural motifs and forms, using materials sourced from Otahuhu, Otara, and Onehunga; we have recreated, reclaimed and re-invested our own totem, talisman, and taonga back into the community. By using accessible materials, we are also reminding members of the Pacific Diaspora and urban Maori that we can still practise our cultural art forms with the resources available in our new settlements. It also places the mana of creating our own cultural art forms squarely back in our hands.

Exhibition history

The ‘Dear Culture Vulture’ series was initially produced for the 6th Annual Tautai Tertiary exhibition, Close to Home. It was held at St. Paul’s Gallery at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, September 2013. The work was then exhibited at the Otara Window installation space in October 2013 as part of OTARAfest, a neighbourhood festival of arts and cultural events in and around Otara Town Centre that was part of Southside Arts Festival, in South Auckland, New Zealand.

Acquisition history

The “Dear Culture Vulture” series was acquired from the artists by Te Papa in 2014.

About the artists

Fijian native, Luisa Tora is a final year BA Creative Arts (Visual Arts) student at the Faculty of Creative Arts, Manukau Institute of Technology. She has a BA Journalism & History-Politics from the University of the South Pacific. She has exhibited in Fiji and New Zealand since 1998. She is a multi-disciplinary creative, an activist, and a writer.

Molly Rangiwai-McHale is of Maori, Chinese, Scottish, and Irish decent. She has a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Auckland. She is a multimedia artist & has exhibited her work in both group & solo shows.