Michael Parekowhai (Maori, New Zealand b.1968) --- --- My Sister, My Self 2007
Here, Parekowhai combines a handmade replica of Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de bicyclette (1913)with a fibreglass seal, calling attention to the conflicting value systems between European and Māori skill aesthetics. He contrasts Māori skill, adornment and innovation with the emergence of the readymade in modern art and the related denigration of the handmade. The seal refers to the late 19th century seal hunt by European settlers, which dec mated local populations – a possible analogy for early indigenous/ settler relationships.
Michael Parekowhai (Maori, New Zealand b.1968) --- --- My Sister, My Self 2007
Here, Parekowhai combines a handmade replica of Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de bicyclette (1913)with a fibreglass seal, calling attention to the conflicting value systems between European and Māori skill aesthetics. He contrasts Māori skill, adornment and innovation with the emergence of the readymade in modern art and the related denigration of the handmade. The seal refers to the late 19th century seal hunt by European settlers, which dec mated local populations – a possible analogy for early indigenous/ settler relationships.