A key point from the week 7 lecture was about the increase in European trade power throughout the Pacific during the 1800s. “As far back as 1860, Samoa was a centre for trade and tourism, situated on a major shipping route between San Francisco and Australia, and en route for steam ships passing through the Panama Canal.” (Vercoe, 36). This certainly impacted much of the Pacific cultures, what with distribution of western food items affecting the physical health of the people who called these islands home.
An example of art used as a response to a socio-political situation confronting Pacific Islanders is Brett Graham’s sculpture installations, Bravo Bikini and Kainga Tahi Kainga Rua (2003). They represent the 50 year anniversary of the nuclear testing carried out by USA on the Bikini Atoll, and act as a “lament and reminder” of the effects of the nuclear testing in that area (Vercoe, 39). It’s stark white wood and walls are a reference to a “ground zero whiteout” (Vercoe, 39) of a devastating nuclear detonation.
The “Dawn Raids’ documentary is about the controversial raids on homes and workplaces of Pacific Islanders in the 70s, whom the government had ‘decided’ were overstayers here in New Zealand. Due to full time employment in the 60s, immigration services turned a blind eye to things such as visa restrictions for Pacific Island immigrants, but eventually the rate of immigrants arriving outgrew the need to employ them and the country faced an economic downturn. This lead to the need to blame someone for the troubles, and so politicians used Pacific immigrants as a scapegoat for overloading the workforce. This was quite aggressively resisted by many people, but Police were given authority to do random street checks despite being officially disclaimed. However, media coverage and activist resistance lead to the end of these raids, and all policies related to said incidents.
Vercoe, C.,(2004), The Many Faces of Paradise. In Paradise now? : contemporary art from the Pacific. (pp. 35-47). Auckland, N. Z. : David Bateman in association with Asia Society, 2004.
Nathan Peacock 