Choice! (exhibition)

In 1990 Aotearoa New Zealand marked the 150th anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti Treaty of Waitangi. On 1 December of that year, as part of this anniversary, the National Art Gallery (now Te Papa Tongarewa) presented a large exhibition of contemporary Māori art Kohia Ko Taikaka Anake: Artists Construct New Directions in association with Ngā Puna Waihanga. Apirana Taylor said of the artists in the exhibition, ‘Their source is a traditional Māori culture and they've brought these values with them into the modern world of contemporary art.’{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Apirana |date=April–May 1977 |title=Kohia ko Taikaka Anake |url=https://art-newzealand.com/58-kohiaat/ |journal=Art New Zealand |issue=58}} Four months prior, on 25 July, Artspace in Auckland launched the exhibition "Choice!" with a distinct approach to contemporary Māori art. Curator George Hubbard's argument questioned both Pākehā and Māori views on just what constituted Māori art.{{Cite journal |last1=Hubbard |first1=George |last2=Craw |first2=Robyn |date=8 December 1990 |title=Beyond Kia Ora: The Paraesthetics of Choice! |journal=Antic |issue=8 |pages=28}}

As stated in the exhibition hand-out sheet, Choice! was intended ‘To challenge viewers’ perceptions of what Māori art is or can be, and its place within New Zealand art as indigenous art ... who decides what Māori art is? Māori – it's a Māori CHOICE!’ Or, as historian Peter Brunt has put it, ‘Choice! was a critique of biculturalism...Choice! wanted to de-centre Māori art’ and in turn subvert biculturalism's simplistic view of Māori art.{{Cite book |last=Brunt |first=Peter |title=New Essays in Cultural Studies 2022 |publisher= Victoria University Press |year=2022 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Anna |location=Wellington, New Zealand |pages=215–242 |editor-last2=Weavers |editor-first2=Lidia}} Art curator and writer Robert Leonard described the exhibition as, ‘game-changing’.

File:GeorgeHubbard.jpg

George Hubbard was born in 1961 and educated in Wellington. An interest in photography led him to collecting works by contemporary New Zealand photographers, and in 1985 he started working at the Wellington Arts Centre under the management of contemporary Māori artist Darcy Nicholas.{{Cite journal |last1=White |first1=Ann-Marie |last2=Leonard |first2=Robert |date=2018 |title=George Hubbard: The Hand that Rocked the Cradle |journal=Reading Room |issue=8 |pages=30–33}}

Nicholas believed in ‘encouraging contemporary Māori art’ claiming that there was ‘too much emphasis on traditional Māori art forms.’{{Cite news |date=10 October 1984 |title=Māori gallery needed—artist |pages=18 |work=Press (Christchurch) |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841010.2.96.7?items_per_page=10&query=%22contemporary+maori+art%22&snippet=true |access-date=12 October 2023}} Nicholas also allowed Hubbard to open his first gallery space by renaming the Arts Centre Hubbard's Cupboard.’ In 1989 Hubbard moved to Auckland and worked on sound tracks for artists including Lisa Reihana and et al.

The exhibition featured the artists Jacqueline Fraser, Rongotai Lomas, Barnard McIntyre, Michael Parekōwhai, Diane Prince, Lisa Reihana, and Darryl Thomson.

Jaqueline Fraser (Ngāi Tahu) Te Wai Ponamu (1990)

The title of Fraser's installation in Choice! references the Māori name for the South Island of Aotearoa, her birthplace. Art critic Gregory Burke suggested that the Māori imagery in the work might be a reaction to Hubbard's statement that ‘Choice! was not a 'koru' show.’ He noted that, ‘Fraser's decision to use Māori symbolism for this installation is indicative of her continuing refusal to work from one point of view. Even so, the 'Māoriness' of the installation remains lightly pinned.’{{Cite book |title=Jaqueline Fraser: Te Tohu the New Zealand Room |publisher=City Gallery |year=1993 |isbn=0-908818-18-1 |editor-last=Burke |editor-first=Gregory |pages=6}}

Rongotai Lomas (Ngāti Hikairo, No Kāwhai Moana, No Kāwhia Kai, No Kāwhia Tangata ) Choice (1990)

Lomas was a street artist and designer. In 1996 he and Hubbard designed a set of six stamps based on Māori craft items for New Zealand Post.{{Cite web |title=Māori Craft |url=https://collectables.nzpost.co.nz/m-ori-craft/ |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=New Zealand Post}}

Barnard McIntyre (Ngā Puhi) Untitled (1989–90)

In his review of the exhibition art writer and artist Giovanni Intra described McIntyre's work as, ‘a quiet wooden construct seemingly turning in and investigating itself….its internal structure and its façade of fake brick paper ….seems to express a vulnerability and structural frailty…’{{Cite journal |last=Intra |first=Giovanni |date=12 August 1990 |title=Being Brown, Making Flutes, and Dying |journal=Stamp |pages=4}} McIntyre himself has said of his work, ‘I prefer people to have their own ideas about whatever my mixture of shapes may mean to them, but at the same time I’ve given them a lot of clues.’{{Cite web |title=Untitled |url=https://govettbrewster.com/collection/91-13 |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Govett-Brewster Art Gallery}}

Michael Parekōwhai (Ngā Riki / Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki) Four works all made in 1990 consisting of Contiki Nett 150, Atarangi:1350, Everyone will Live Quietly 4:4 Micah 1840,{{Cite web |title=Michael Parekowhai: Micah 4.4 Everyone will live quietly |url=https://govettbrewster.com/collection/91-1 |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Govett-Brewster Art Gallery}} and Mike P ‘me etahi atu’ The Indefinite Article.{{Cite web |title=The Indefinite Article |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/16389/the-indefinite-article?q=%2Fexplore-art-and-ideas%2Fartwork%2F16389%2Fthe-indefinite-article |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Auckland Art Gallery}}

Curator and art writer Robert Leonard described Parekowhai's four works as being, ‘placed at the heart of the exhibition and its argument…They put us in a position where we have to choose whether to read them as authentic or fake, Māori or Pākehā, pure or impure, devoted or blasphemous. Our choices will be informed by things cultural, whether we can read Māori or not, are believers or disbelievers etc.’{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Robert |date=Winter 1991 |title=Against Purity: Three Word Sculptures by Michael Parekowhai |journal=Art New Zealand |issue=59 |pages=52–54}}

Diane Prince (Ngā Puhi / Ngāti Whātua) Untitled (1990)

Prince's large wall work combined traditional Māori materials and techniques with their European counterparts. In reviewing the exhibition Stephen Zepke described the installation as a ‘subversion of the Pākehā / other opposition…’{{Cite journal |last=Zepke |first=Stephen |date=December 1990 |title=Difference Without Binary Oppositions, a Chance for a: Choice! |journal=Antic |issue=8 |pages=29}}

Lisa Reihana (Ngāti Tahu / Ngā Puhi) Wog Features (1988-1990){{Cite web |title=Wog Features |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/14627/wog-features |access-date=12 October 2023 |website=Auckland Art Gallery}}

Hubbard worked with Reihana on the soundtrack for the film that features images of golliwogs, and Reihana herself dressed to showcase various stereotypical cultural roles. Art historian Roger Horrocks and film maker Shirley Horrocks noted that Reihana's work, ‘while eclectic’, showed ‘a special talent for mediating between different cultures.’{{Cite book |title=Pleasures and Dangers: Artists of the 90's |publisher=Moët & Chandon New Zealand Art Foundation in association with Longman Paul Limited |year=1991 |isbn=058285976X |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Trish |pages=121 |editor-last2=Curnow |editor-first2=Wystan}}

Darryl Thomson (Ngāti Kahungunu) Rap (1990), Life in the City (1990), Ozone (1990)

Thomson (known as DLT) was a spray paint bomber and a member of the hip-hop group Upper Hutt Posse that was managed by Hubbard.{{Cite web |title=Darryl Thomson, Te Taite Kupa named as this year's Iconic Award recipients at the National Waiata Māori Music Awards |date=10 October 2020 |url=https://www.waiatamaoriawards.co.nz/press-releases/darryl-thomson-te-taite-kupa-named-as-this-years-iconic-award-recipients-at-the-national-waiata-mori-music-awards |access-date=12 October 2023}}

In 2025 Artspace Aotearoa in Auckland acknowledged the 35th anniversary of Choice! by exhibiting Michael Parekowhai’s sculpture The Indefinite Article alongside Choice! memorabilia and with works by the Turner Prize winning artist Lubaina Himid.{{Cite web |title=Prompts: Lubaina Himid, Michael Parekōwhai |url=https://artspace-aotearoa.nz/exhibitions/prompts |access-date=24 February 2025 |website=Artspace Aotearoa}}

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Category:1990 in New Zealand

Category:Art exhibitions in New Zealand

Category:1990 in art

Category:Māori art