Re: [-empyre-] chipping in

[Helen Varley Jamieson <helen@creative-catalyst.com>]

hi marc,
definitely there are maori & pacific island artists working in new 
media, here in nz & overseas. i have to confess that at the moment my 
brain is working slowly & not many names are jumping out, but one who 
does spring to mind is maru nihoniho who is a games developer; she 
manages her own company now but her background is in 3d modelling, 
animation etc. http://www.metia.co.nz/ one of her games, the guardian 
(http://theguardiangame.com/) has a female maori main character.

there are a lot of maori visual artists whose work incorporates 
digital, also in the music industry & vj ... perhaps someone can help 
me out with some names here? there are a number of maori art web 
sites buti haven't found one that deals specifically with maori 
digital art (there probably is one ... )

if you do a search for maori art & artists you are more likely to 
find traditional art forms, & i think (correct me if i'm wrong, 
someone) that the focus of funding for maori & pacific arts has 
tended to be on the traditional (eg carving, traditional performing 
arts, language etc). the renaissance in maori art & culture is still 
fairly recent so still tends to be driven by the desire to preserve 
arts & crafts that were potentially going to disappear.

there's also a distinction between maori (who are the tangata whenua, 
indigenous people of aotearoa) & pacific island / polynesian peoples 
who are not indigenous but who have brought strong artistic practices 
with them & have had a strong influence on arts & culture, 
particularly in the north parts of the country.

h : )

> As you say, Polynesian & Asian cultures have a strong influence in 
> NZ. I was wondering if you know of any indgenious people living in 
> New Zealand who who are curently practising in New media themselves, 
> or anything close to it at least?
>
> marc
>
> http://www.furtherfield.org
> http://www.http.uk.net

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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen@creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
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