The Way Home

Margaret Aull simultaneously belongs and does-not-belong to both Fiji and Aotearoa, and work included in THE WAY HOME draws upon the tensions between divergent cultures and her fused heritage. In her artwork, Aull confronts tradition and what it means to be indigenous – being in and from different places – and creates a space to question and subvert cultural authority. Of principal interest to her are the notions of Tapu (sacred/with restrictions) and Noa (free from Tapu). Aull makes use of Māori and Fijian artefacts that have no clear provenance, and further dislocates them from their origin or maker. Images of museum objects or photographic archives are corrupted through copying, cutting, transposing and pasting. Through her work Aull is asking: “How can I be responsible for creating or maintaining Tapu as a contemporary artist? How is power given? If a woman can lift Tapu, how was it placed to begin with? We imbue items and representations with mana or power. Where does power, control, protocol come from, and why?”

Margaret Aull

28 October – 12 December

Calder & Lawson Gallery, University of Waikato