From The Shore

From the Shore considers the influence of Māori filmmakers Barry Barclay and Merata Mita on a current generation of artists – bringing together acclaimed works from recent Venice Biennale artists Lisa Reihana and Tracey Moffatt, as well as new commissions from Tanu Gago, Robert George, Nova Paul and Tuafale Tanoa’i, aka Linda T., produced especially for the exhibition.

Barry Barclay and Merata Mita were forerunners in making films by Māori, about Māori, for Māori. Through their work in film, television and writing, Barclay and Mita set out some core concerns of indigenous filmmaking internationally, ranging from control over production through to community-based models of filming and upending technical conventions, such as staged interviews.

This exhibition takes its title from Barclay’s metaphor of indigenous cinema as ‘a camera on the shore’ that reverses the direction of the colonial gaze. Working in documentary or cinema, all six artists share concerns with what it means to represent indigenous people, places or ideas on the screen. While they share the same position, their approaches vary; capturing clichés through montage, subverting conventional tropes, or searching for evocative images and symbols.

From The Shore – 2nd September – 4th November, 2018 Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery.

Te Uru is also working in partnership with Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision to present a film-screening programme of selected Barry Barclay and Merata Mita films from September to October: https://www.facebook.com/events/214532599217749/

Curated by Ioana Gordon-Smith