Poland: New Art by Francis Potter

Ta Moko, Maori tattoo is sacred to the Maori people and all the people of New Zealand/Aotearoa. It is ours, our Taonga. Moko identifies our history and is a bridge to our future, it is our treasure.  We own it.

Other nations and cultures in the world have abundant variations of ways to scarify or mark or tattoo their bodies, Moko is ours, it which defines us from the rest. It helps us to understand our turangawaewae, our sense of place, where our feet stand on our turning earth, our whenua.

My work is a response to my experience of seeing body art on various people in numerous countries over my extensive travels of our beautiful blue planet. I was at first concerned, what gave people from other nations the right to adorn their bodies with our cultural heritage, our taonga, our treasure? Did they realize they might be wearing a family portrait of someone from Wellington or Ruatoki on their leg or back or arm?

This made me really think, who really has the right to use this treasure. In a global society like our planet, with forces like the internet and social media and the speed in which information travels, how important is it that we protect these artifacts of our culture, or is that this protection should be paramount in our actions and words.

I am, as far as I know the only practicing artist from New Zealand living in Poland. At the present I have decided to help people of Central Europe become aware of our treasure, our precious gift for what it is, a sacred taonga that is Aotearoa.

I see these works as cultural icons of Aotearoa. Icons that encompass Pakeha and Maori identity, culture and tradition. That makes reference to our need to protect our treasure at the same time as holding it up as beacon of light to help others understand its significance in the international arena. I see these works as a reference to Taonga to be treasured by all.

Francis Potter graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1999, obtaining a MFA . He currently lives in Warsaw with his wife Asia and their daughter Maia. He teaches art at the International Brith School of Warsaw.
 
The exhibition included the Honorary Patronage of the New Zealand Embassy in Poland
 
Curator: Thomas Madej, MAiP
 
 GALLERY ASIAN AND PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM
 st. Fret 5 (New Town), Warsaw
 Mon, Fri, Sat, niedz.12-18
 Tues, sr., Thurs, 10 -18
 Tel: (22) 635 28 11

The exhibition runs from 10 - 30 November 2011

Also see:

Page Museum: muzeumazji.pl
museum fanpage: facebook.com / muzeumazji
museum blog: muzeumazji.blogspot.com

I kindly acknowledge our sponsors and of course the New Zealand Embassy for their generous support in helping this exhibition come to fruition. Kia ora.