'Face Value' exhibition explores Māori tattoo art
13 May 2010
'Face Value' by Serena Giovanna Stevenson
June 2009 - December 2012
A travelling exhibition that explores the Māori moko or facial tattoo and takes it beyond face value is touring New Zealand promoting a better understanding of the traditional art form.
The exhibition, which includes photography and film installation, is the work of Kiwi artist Serena Giovanna Stevenson who started the project in 2000.
‘Face Value’ looks at what the traditional facial moko means to six individuals who have undergone the tattoo experience, and Stevenson has used photography and film to document the relationship between ta moko artists or practitioners and the wearers or recipients.
Human to human
Currently showing at Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth until 27 June, the exhibition opened at Pataka Museum and Gallery in Porirua las year, and has been well received throughout the country.
While carrying a strong education message and designed to challenge common misconceptions, the photography and film collection is about human-to-human connection and how the exchange of the facial moko isn’t possible without deeply personal contact.
Exhibition Services, the company touring the work says the photographs are of real people in their homes and familiar spaces, both indoors and outdoors. It gives insight into the sincerity, human impulse and gaze of understanding passing through the eyes of one generation to the next - from grandfather to grandchild, daughter to mother and on and on.
Face Value captured the "everyday space and profound moments before, during, and after the intensely personal process of tā moko," it said.
Serena Giovanna Stevenson
Auckland-based Stevenson spent eight years working closely with the people featured in the exhibition, and says she took time to build trust and a mutual appreciation.
Stevenson started the 'Face Value' project in 2000 after a year of travelling and photographing a number of cultural social documentary stories.
"One of my aims was to counteract the fascination held by the international media and popular culture with stereotypical portrayals of Māori wearing 'fierce' facial tattoo that repeatedly highlighted a public misrepresentation of the art form.
"I was not interested in the generic context of moko, nor in the history or politics of the process. I am neither an anthropologist nor an academic specialising in such things. My intention was to find out what the traditional facial tattoo meant to the individual and how it came about in this fast changing world," she said.
Personal stories
Stevenson says the work doesn’t cover the whole Māori perspective of facial moko, but is six personal stories where each person shares their knowledge pertaining to their own experience.
"I have discovered that there are political and cultural issues attached to the idea of what moko is today, and the points of view are varied depending on age, gender, tribal affiliation, knowledge and personal experience," she said.
The subjects did not choose to discuss regional differences, political acts or approval from elders but talked about the experience within their own process.
"I feel reassured that they all appreciate how their stories are represented. This has been achieved by building trust, taking time and paying attention to detail in the communication process and by the mutual respect that developed. It was a great privilege to be able to photograph and film these events," says Stevenson.
Film installation
The exhibition’s 37-minute film runs on a loop with each of the six stories as self-contained ‘chapters', so the audience can choose to be up close and personal with one or all of the stories.
Music is an integral element connecting each story.
The style of the moving and stills imagery has been paced to faithfully represent the person, their relationship to the moko and the connection between the artist and recipient.
Unique to the film is contemporary footage of facial moko being carried out using traditional tools and technique.
Exhibition dates: 'Face Value'
- Puke Ariki, New Plymouth: 1 April - 27 June 2010
- Hastings City Art Gallery: 30 July - 10 October 2010
- Millennium Gallery, Blenheim: 27 Aug - 3 October 2010
- Te Manawa, Palmerston North: 16 October 2010 - 7 January 2011
- Ashburton Art Gallery, Canterbury: 15 January - 15 March 2011
- Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne: TBC.
'Face Value' has also been invited to exhibit in Tasmania in April 2011.
More information:
Ta moko traditional Māori tattoo art
Significance of Māori tattoos
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