July 2005

 

 

Cultural copyright trade-mark Toi Iho is less about protecting individual commercial interests, than “sending the message that Māori art has a value”. Among those infiltrating the market with a different value system is Julie Kipa, who was the first artist (along with husband Rangi Kipa) to have work certified under the label.

 

Toi Iho is tied into Māori economic development. “It’s about Māori people saying ‘being schooled in my culture is an asset’.” Kipa notes that “within business society or western society”, value is about commerce – but “Māori cultural symbols exist outside that sphere.” A Māori design is “not simply a pattern.”

 

Still, rather than viewing all commercialisation of Māori culture as appropriation, Kipa believes Māori should take full advantage of the Māori ‘branding’ of New Zealand. “The more our iconography is seen and used in new situations, the more culturally relevant it is, like language. The participation of Māori iconography within different spheres makes it readily available to everybody,” but it needs to be Māori people who “define what is Māori and not Māori. The whole meaning can be altered without you participating in it. Often [Māori] don’t realise they’ve lost control.”

 

Kipa (Ngai Te Rangi, Ngai Tuwhiwhia) and her husband Rangi run New Plymouth gallery Art Māori, and Te Kikini Trust. Their objective is to change perceptions of Māori art, and providing a learning-base for local artists.

 

Work such as Rangi Kipa’s corian tiki, traditionally carved from brightly-coloured synthetic material, show that Māori art “is not just what you see as traditional, it’s quite challenging and contemporary. [Our gallery] broke down the stereotypes. People would walk in and say ‘oh, is this a Māori gallery?’ The more Māori galleries there are, the more Māori are having a say in what’s culturally valuable, what’s good, what’s commercial,” says Kipa.