Matatau 2020, the Toioho ki Āpiti Māori Visual Arts graduate exhibition, will be held at Te Manawa Gallery, Palmerston North, from 14 November 2020 to 24 January 2021.
Digital media installation, Kauri Wharewera, PGDipMVA, 2020.
Nga manu, Pam Vernon, PGDipMVA, 2020.
Jordan Quinnell, PGDipMVA, 2020.
Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei
Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.
14 November 2020–24 January 2021
Te Manawa Gallery, Palmerston North
Matatau 2020 shows work from graduating students in the Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts, Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Visual Arts, and Master of Māori Visual Arts.
This year Toioho ki Āpiti celebrates its 25th anniversary.
According to Professor Ropata Jahnke, who set up the programme in 1995, “the pedagogical model for the BMVA is structured around Maori/Indigenous notions of mana whakapapa, mana tiriti, mana whenua and mana tangata. The programme is developmental and each year is named accordingly: Mata Puare ‘opening the eyes’, Mata Aho ‘awakening perceptual capacity’, Mata Aro ‘exciting the senses’ and Matatau ‘generating understanding through perceptual and conceptual insight’.”
The notion of Mana Tangata sets the scene for students to engage with customary Maori notions of mana tangata within a cultural context, or to extend the boundaries of engagement to locate their practice within a contemporary context. Matatau 2020 projects out to its audience the exploration of personal identity, as Maori and their creative responses to social, economic, political climate of the day. Their artworks range from painting, sculpture, digital media, digital photography and installation.