Speakers: Zara Stanhope (Director, Cultural Experiences), Taarati Taiaroa (Ringahāpai Kaitakatū Ngā Toi Māori (Assistant Curator Contemporary Māori Art), Heidi Yip (artist)
Moderator: Tammy Yu-Ting Hsieh
Written by: Kuan-Ting Kuo
Translation by Tammy Yu-Ting Hsieh

The exhibition without centre, without limits opened on July 6, 2024, at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand. Sponsored by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture and in collaboration with the Culture Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney, this exhibition that highlighted the creative outcomes of four Indigenous Taiwanese artists following their residency in Aotearoa was made possible through the support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA). These artists—Lafin Sawmah, Eleng Luluan (安聖惠), Akac Orat (陳豪毅), and Malay Makakazuwan (林琳)—have engaged deeply with both their own indigenous traditions and the cultural exchanges experienced during their stay in Aotearoa New Zealand.

On August 23, 2024, Zara Stanhope, the gallery's director and Curator Taarati Taiaroa, both co-curators of the project, and artist Heidi Yip shared insights from this project during an online discussion. The talk highlighted the co-curators' strategies and thinking. For the perspective of an artist in the exhibition you can read Akac Orat's first-person observations from his residency (which was previously published in KMFA's magazine Art Accrediting No. 98), revealing resonances between their experiences.

This project, which spanned different countries, languages, and ethnicities, naturally had to overcome differences working across Taiwan and Aotearoa New Zealand. Why did the gallery want to invite Indigenous Taiwanese artists, and how did the artists connect with Māori artists and culture within just two weeks of residency?

Building Future Relations: The Two-Week Residency Strategy

The initial goals of this collaboration were to deepen understanding of Indigenous artists from Taiwan specifically through open exchange and to assist understanding and explore shared connections based in a history of colonization while establishing relationships to foster dialogue. But why Taiwan? The collaboration had its roots in connections made through The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia where Zara Stanhope was Head of Asia and Pacific Art and was subsequently invited to the Pan-Austro-Nesian Contemporary Indigenous Art Forum held by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA) in 2019. Later on, when KMFA organized the Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival in 2021, Zara was also invited to be the curatorial consultant. Once Zara became Director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 2021 she continued this exchange by inviting four Indigenous Taiwanese artists to connect and participate in a residency to familiarise them with the Gallery's context and contemporary Māori culture in Aotearoa as a first step.  

Zara emphasized that "We were not only thinking about the current exhibition, but also about how to build and create 'relationships that continue into the future,' which is also beneficial for the artists." Despite limitations on funding, personnel, and the challenges of the pandemic, four Indigenous artists from different tribes were selected by those recommended by KMFA and others to participate in the residency program.

The artists were welcomed on arrival at the Govett-Brewster with a pōwhiri (ritual of encounter) by tangata whenua (members of the local sub-tribe who hold authority over the land) in which guests are formally greeted with speeches and waiata (song) in Te Reo Maori (the Māori language). The artists' response was led by Lafin speaking in Amis and followed with song. This process was repeated as they moved around the country, led by local tangata whenua and Lafin as the artists' self-appointed ceremonial lead. The sharing of languages and greetings was affirmative for Indigenous sovereignty, making it "a beautiful and moving experience."

Meetings with local knowledge holders and guided visits to places of local significance, such as Pūkaka the land of Ngāti Te Whiti, where Taranaki Cathedral stands and Parihaka a community founded in the 1800s that is a strong hold of Māori sovereignty renowned for its pacifist resistance to colonial aggression, deepened the artists understanding of the immediate context of the place where the Gallery is situated. 

The itinerary took the artists to other places in Aotearoa that are of national significance and speak to the larger context of the tribal and colonial histories of Taranaki. The artists also engaged with many Māori artists during their residency and engaged in a weaving class and saw a waka (canoe) building workshop. Along the way they visited the storage collections of various museums to meet with Māori curators and learn more about and make connections with Māori material culture.

The team also visited the Wairau Māori Art Gallery in Whangarei, New Zealand's first public gallery dedicated to Māori art, which opened in 2022. All staff and board members are Māori. This visit emphasized the importance of Indigenous self-determination in the presentation and interpretation of Indigenous art. It offered a model for the creation of infrastructure to support the professional development of Indigenous curators and arts workers.

 “The process of sharing knowledge and culture; of getting to know each other is the most important part.” The curators saw the residency as an effective way to initiate dialogue and strongly support the artists in engaging with the subsequent act of creating an exhibition and engaging with the Aotearoa audience through their works.


without centre, without limits: Beyond Centres and Boundaries

The exhibition title, without centre, without limits, is inspired by Cuban writer Antonio Benítez Rojo's description of the Caribbean as a "cultural meta-archipelago without centre and without limits," referring to a series of islands with diverse colonial histories, ethnicities, and languages—and a metaphorical way of thinking about embracing difference without priority. This idea of relationships amongst and across water and islands was a way into the title for the exhibition. 
Giving every artist a distinct area in the exhibition enabled each to offer a title in their own language for their space. Lafin Sawmah's three works included The Direction of Fuis which conveyed ideas of navigation into Te Moana nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean) guided by the Southern Cross and the frigate bird. Eleng Luluan's maka lrualrumalane (No One is Other) was both a response to colonization and her experience in Aotearoa and provoked viewers to reflect on the urgency of acting collectively, as one. A grove of fern shapes made of ratan, Akac Orat's pido^dp (The Path of the Fern), highlighted the importance of this plant amongst the Amis people, and human responsibility for the natural world as integral to Indigenous worldviews. Malay Makakazuwan"s muvalis (Shapeshifter) beautifully made connections between Puyuma creation narratives and the cultural continuity and persistence of Indigenous peoples through transformation.  

The exhibition aims to break free from frameworks, allowing artists' works to be understood on their own terms. The curators emphasized, "the true core of the exhibition is the ongoing process without boundaries or endpoints. We hope these relationships will continue—it is only the beginning."


The Challenge, Respect, and Persistence of Language

Respect for language as an Indigenous taonga (treasure) was upheld throughout the residency and exhibition. Even in the initial stages of online discussions, ensuring accurate communication through translation remained one of the greatest concerns. How do people from different backgrounds navigate language differences? Besides hiring translators, the team received assistance from the artists' families, KMFA staff, and representatives from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office who were all collaborators in this area. KMFA played a key role in facilitating communication between the Govett-Brewster team and the Taiwanese artists, especially during early online meetings and also during exhibition preparations after the residency . There was a collective effort to support the artists, the Govett-Brewster curators needing to constantly reassess and adjust plans in accord with the needs of working cross-culturally.

The curators encouraged the Taiwanese artists to use their Indigenous languages in titling and introducing their works, providing them with agency. "This is to give artists autonomy," they explained. "No matter where the artists come from, we encourage them to use their mother tongues because we want to support Indigenous cultures! This extends beyond Māori to consider 'how to support Indigenous artists from other places as well."

This attitude of consideration extended to the exhibition text interpretation. The exhibition texts were bilingual, with Māori first, followed by English, and the team chose to only retain Indigenous names for the artists, without using Chinese translations. "This is to support Indigenous languages and normalize them. We prioritize Indigenous languages and knowledge while placing colonial languages (in Aotearoa New Zealand, that is English) second. We see this as a responsibility to the artists we work with and their sovereignty," the Govett-Brewster noted, ensuring that Māori audiences could read about artists and ideas in their mother tongue all of the interpretation and artist biographies were made available in Te Reo Māori. Taarati stated that “The only way for the Māori language to thrive is for it to be seen and used in daily life." 

Exhibition: The Beginning of New Relationships
"An exhibition is not just about having people come and go, but about building new relationships." Beyond centers and boundaries, the ocean connects archipelagos. The team believes the connections forged between Taiwan and New Zealand will continue to grow and resonate.



Further Readings：
without centre, without limits
https://govettbrewster.com/exhibitions/2024/without-centre-without-limits
https://www.moc.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=105&s=219624