Dirty Money Series

Ahakoa ko te mahi kiriata te kaupapa e rongonui ai a Taika Waititi, he kaipeita, he kaiwhakaahua hoki i ako ai i a ia anō, e ai ki a ia he ringa toi ā-waho. Ko tōna tikanga toi he whakamahi i te āhuatanga atamai, whakakata hoki, ki te whakakore ārai, hei aro atu ki ngā kaupapa e pā ana ki te whakarata ki iwi kē, ki te koronoriatanga, ki te wheako tangata. Ko te raupapatanga, *Dirty Money*, 1999, mō ngā moni Aotearoa kua panonihia, he tohutoro whakakata i te hītori koroniara o Aotearoa hei tahuri i ngā tohu rangatiratanga. Kei te hurirapa ēnei mahi i te tirohanga koroniara me ngā ariā o nāianei mō te mana me te rangatiratanga. Kei runga i ngā moni pepa kotahi-tāra, kua tangohia a Kuini Irihapeti II, ā, kua rīwhia ngā rangatira o te rautau 19, a Te Kooti, a Te Rauparaha. Ka pēhia te pātene ‘Hokona’, ka kitea a Kāpene Kuki i roto i te *Mob dollars*, 1999, me *The Bill*, 1999. Ko tā tēnei raupapatanga a Waititi he tirotiro ki ngā kaupapa o te kuinitanga, te ahurea, te hītori, i runga i te ‘kānawehi’ waia o Aotearoa.

Most recognised for his acclaimed filmmaking, Taika Waititi is also a self-taught painter and illustrator who identifies with the position of an outsider artist. Throughout Waititi’s creative practice he deploys wit and humour to disarm conversations about racial tolerance, colonisation and the human experience. This series of reimagined New Zealand bank notes, *Dirty Money*, 1999, references our country’s colonial history with jest to reconstruct tropes of power. The works reverse the colonial gaze and foreground ideas of nationhood and power. On Waititi’s one-dollar notes Queen Elizabeth II makes way for 19th-century Māori heroes Te Kooti and Te Rauparaha. Pushing the ‘Purchase Here’ button reveals Captain Cook in another guise in *Mob Dollars*, 1999 and *The Bill*, 1999. With this series Waititi explores themes of monarchy, culture and history on a familiar New Zealand ‘canvas’.

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