'The Ocean Will Protect Me'

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 from 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”.

The Ocean Will Protect Me'

According to the artists, “It is no accident that these body adornments take the form of chest pieces to be worn on the torso as a shield. It is intended to project a sense of security and familiarity by adopting and adapting recognisable traditional forms of protection (breastplate) and celebration (garlands).

We chanced upon the lobsters while scouting for materials in Onehunga. We capitalised on the marine animal’s natural aggressive appearance by doubling them up, the wearer therefore appears encased in a sea of pincers.We used a harness and snap fasteners to allow the wearer to put the work on or remove it with ease, or to adjust it so that it sits comfortably. The work sits snugly on the wearer’s body. In this way we were relying on the wearer’s muscle memory of safety, namely strapping on the seatbelt in a car or an airplane.

By creating a work that the wearer can adjust or wear at will, we are attempting to recreate the security and familiarity of recognising and understanding the codes inherent in our cultural art forms.”

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.