Development and Connection For this project I have decided to base my art on the colonization of New Zealand, I wanted my art to showcase how Maori culture and traditions have started to disappear and the Maori people have been white washed due to the colonization and modernism of New Zealand. When I first started this project I wanted to base my art around my Grandmother who told me stories of how when she was in school the teachers would hit students who spoke maori with a ruler, this tactic stopped people from speaking the language and resulted in the near death of the Te Reo. For some development I created a disturbing video of myself speaking maori, the words having a incredibly special and sacred meaning to them while I was whacked with a ruler.
After this video was created I realized I wanted to base my art more around colonization and the disappearance of Moari culture. My idea for this project is to create either a series of photographs or a artistic, still film, I will use models of different ethnicities and draw traditional tattoos on the models while being surrounded and smothered by 'white' 'modern' objects to show case the white wash enforced on the Maori's.
To be able to accurately represent the maori culture on these models I have evaluated and printed out different photos of Maori Tattoos, the tattoos I want to paint on my models is the ta modo which are sacred maori tattoos which would be typically drawn in the skin with a needle attached to a piece of wood and being pressed into the skin with a rock knocking on the wood to permanently inscribe the drawings.
Development of the Product For the first step of developing my product I decided to use my friend Omar who has similar features to a typical, stereotypical Maori face. These images demonstrate the before and after of colonization. The first few images showcase how Maori were proud of their heritage and where the come from. The next images I used my friend Sabine, I wanted to use her to take off the 'tattoo' was to showcase how when the Europeans (Pakehas) Invaded New Zealand they tried to white wash the Maori's and dissolve the Maori heritage.
For these photographs I used Sofiya, a white woman of Russian descent. I wanted to use her for these photos to also showcase colonialism. I wanted to demonstrate how when the British and the Americans came to New Zealand they wanted to white wash everything. I wanted Sofiya to pose in a powerful, triumph and fearless way to show how the Europeans reacted when they conquered New Zealand. I used a black background to define and contrast her skin against the colour.
Final Photographs
I decided to change the colour of the background of each photo to make the images appear more edited. I wanted to do this to show a large contrast between Maori culture and modern day society.
Throughout the process of the unit I have developed my photography skills and online graphic skills in order to complete my final product. I wanted to edit the background of the photographs to 'modernize' the images to show a large contrast between the present and the past. I decided to edit the background to create this 'modern' touch to the images. I wanted to use these warmer colours in the background in order to showcase common colours used in Maori culture as well as to show a good contrast against the photos of each model.