The Body Reborn

The 1980s was a progressive decade in Aotearoa New Zealand and notable for the rise of the feminist art movement and the Māori women’s art movement. The Body Re-Born considers the diversity of ideas, concerns and politics that women across both movements were experiencing and responding to. A key concern of feminism was the drive for political, economic, personal and social equality between the sexes.  Reclaiming ‘the body’ as a site of power and emancipation was a prominent theme. Trailblazing feminist painters Jan Nigro and Jacqueline Fahey used wit to disrupt tradition and the ideal of the classical nude in art history, while Carole Shepheard presented interior conversations about the female body and subverting the gaze. 

Robyn Kahukiwa, Emily Karaka and Kura Te Waru Rewiri were some of the first artists to embody issues of Māori women’s sovereignty within their art work. They gave voice and visibility to Māori women, foregrounding issues related to nature and nurture, motherhood, the kōhanga reo movement (Māori language nests), Papatūānuku (the land), the Treaty of Waitangi, and the loss of land. They were also associated with the mana wahine movement, which was about making visible the narratives and experiences, in all of their diversity, of Māori women. Collectively, these movements were successful at bringing attention to the lives and diverse realities of women in this time.

Te Tīnana Hou: Te Mahi Whakapakoko i te ngahuru tau 1980

Ko te ngahuru tau 1980s te wā e whakaaro nui ana te motu ki te whakapupuketanga o te tai take ringatoi wāhine o te ao, tae atu rā hoki ki ngā ringatoi wāhine Māori. E whakaaro nui ana te whakaaturanga nei ki ngā huatau o tēnā o tēnā, me ngā take tō rangapū o te wā e whakawheako ana, e whakaweawe ana ngā wāhine katoa o ēnei tai. Ko te pāwera o te tai take wāhine, ko te noho ōrite o ngā take wāhine me ngā take tāne ki roto i ngā āhuatanga o te tō rangapū, o te ōhanga, o te noho takitahi me te noho takimano anō hoki. Ko te whakanui o ‘te tīnana’ te kaupapa matua hei whakatairanga i te mana tangata me te herekorenga o te tangata. Atamai katoa te mahi a ngā ringatoi take wāhine rongonui a Jan Nigro rāua ko Jacqueline Fahey kia whakatōhenehenetia ngā whakaaro o mua e pā ana ki te tūranga o te kirikau i roto i te ao toi, ā, ko Carole Shepheard me tana mahi e kōrero-a-roto ana mō te tīnana o te wahine me te whakararu i te mātakitaki noa.

Ko Robyn Kahukiwa rātou ko Emily Karaka ko Kura Te Waru Rewiri ētahi o ngā ringa toi kia whakatīnanatia tuatahitia te āhuatanga o te tino rangatiratanga i roto i ngā mahi toi i oti ai i ngā ringatoi wāhine Māori. Nā rātou i wahawaha te māngai mō ngā wāhine Māori kia whārikihia ngā kaupapa e pā ana ki te taiao me te whāngai tamariki, ko te ūkaipōtanga, ko Te Kōhanga Reo, ko Papatūānuku, ko Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te muru whenua. Ka piri anō rātou ki te tai Mana Wahine, he tai e ari ake ana ngā take katoa e aweawe ana ngā wāhine Māori. Ka angitū ēnei tai katoa i te whakaaroaro o ngā auheke me ngā aupiki o te wā e whakawheako nei ngā wāhine katoa o te ao.