Australia Goes to Samoa: 7th Pacific Festival of the Arts

Overview of the 7th Pacific Festival of Arts which is held in a different country every 4 years. 1996 the festival was held in Apia in Western Samoa. Previous hosts 1992 Raratonga, Cook Islands 1988 Townsville Queensland Australia Lists the communities of Aboriginal Australians who were in attendance at the festival.

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Maori Film Images and Intellectual Property Rights - A Breakthrough?

For those depositing films with a significant Maori content, the New Zealand Film Archive has developed a Deposit Agreement which acknowledges that named Maori guardians have spiritual guardianship authority over their image treasures in perpetuity. This goes way beyond white copyright regimes.

Barry Barclay

The Land made Visible: Native Title Now

Written with Vincent Megaw. Looks at land claims and the role of artworks in these claims in the context of the exhibition 'Native Titled Now' shown as part of the Telstra Festival of Arts 1996. Good overview of indigenous art practice and talks about artists such as Raymond Arone Meeks, Lin Onus, Gordon Bennett, Alice Hinton-Bateup, Avril Quaill, Kerry Giles, Daphne Naden, Mick Namarari, Turkey Tolson, Danie Mellor, Jonathan Kumintjara Brown, Clifford Possum, Ellen Jose, Lindsay Bird Mpetyane, Heather Shearer and Kathleen Wallace.

Doreen Mellor

Soapstone Workshop

April 1996 at the Pouebo Town Hall northern New Caledonia. A sculptural tradition has always been alive in this area so a workshop was held to explore the use of soapstone sculpture.

Denise Tiavouane

Art and Ritual: Aina Asi A Mavaru Kavamu

The artist writes of the issues facing her as a citizen of Papua New Guinea, a descendant of the Motu Koita people, being female and an artist/textile designer. Her traditional grass skirts were included in the Asia-Pacific Triennial.

Wendy Choulai

Funk Junk

Exhibition review Junk Bonds New Land Gallery, Port Adelaide South Australia Touring South Australia and interstate with Visions of Australia 28 June - 28 July 1996.

John Neylon

Educating Public Taste

The National Museum's role in the development of contemporary art in the Solomon Islands. Artists Dick Taumata, Kuai Maueha, Frank Haikiu, Rex Mahuta, Jack Saemala and Billy Vina are discussed.

Lawrence Foanaota

The Waka and the Cattle Truck

What do a traditional Maori canoe (waka) and a cattle truck have in common?...In both these cases these vehicles were conveyors of culture. These images are central to two collaborative works at the second Asia Pacific Triennial of Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Margo Neale

Tandanya - Captivating Culture

Brief overview of the current focus of Tandanya the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide, South Australia.

Stephanie Britton

The Art of Survival: The Importance of Contemporary Theatre in Papua New Guinea

In many developing countries where indigenous communities are faced with the rapid process of development, theatre has become an extremely important educational tool. With escalating resource exploitation, rising numbers of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS and increases in violent crimes by an unemployed and disillusioned youth, the importance of this form of communication cannot be underestimated.

Liz Thompson

Vaka - Only the Brave

Looks at the contemporary art and the cultural and economic pressures faced by the people of the Cook Islands.

Mereana Hutchinson

An Alternative to the Art Market

The market must acknowledge its role in the commidification of indigenous cultures through cultural objects....What the market must acknowledge is the relationship of interdependency which exists between itself and the artists that it promotes and as such, the market must ensure that its actions do not prove detrimental to the artist and the community in the long run.

Tom Byra Mixie Mosby

Memories - Macabre and Magic

Exhibition review Aadje Bruce: Domestic Bliss Artplace Claremont Western Australia 9 May -1 June 1996

Margaret Way

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