Untitled (plane, car, blanket)

Untitled (plane, car, blanket)

Ko te nuinga o ngā mahi a Peter Robinson i ngā tau 1990, e pā ana ki ngā tōrangapū o te tikanga rua, o te tuakiritanga, me ngā kawatau ka tāmia ki runga ki ngā ringatoi Māori e mahi e ana i te pūnaha o te whare whakairi toi.

Ka kitea i roto i Untitled (plane, car, blanket) ngā pūtake e kaha kitea ana i ngā tikanga a Robinson nō taua wā. He ōrite te whakatakoto ki tō te takoto o ngā waka i runga i tētehi paraikete, he manu rererangi - he ōrite tōna whiore ki te taurapa o te waka - ko te tikanga o te waka hei whakaatu i ngā nekehanga papori. E whakamaumahara hoki ana ngā tohu nei i ngā tohu a Te Māngai o te Hāhi Rātana, a Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, arā, ko te tikanga o te manu rererangi hei tohu i te ture wairua, ā, ko te waka e hono ana ki te manu rererangi ki tētehi arawhata, hei tohu i te ture tangata.

Kua tuhia te nama 96.875 ki runga i te manu rererangi; kei runga i te waka te nama 3.125. E hāngai ana ngā nama nei ki te toto Pākehā me te toto Māori i riro ki a Robinson. Ka huia ki ngā kano e kaha kitea ana i ngā kōwhaiwhai, ā, mā ngā huānga nei hei arohaehae i te māmā me te aronga whakapāpaku i te ahurea me te tuakiri kia hāngai ki ngā nama me ngā āhuatanga ka kitea.


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Much of Peter Robinson’s work from the 1990s deals with the politics of biculturalism, cultural identity, and expectations placed upon Māori artists working in the gallery system.

Untitled (plane, car, blanket) contains several elements that appear frequently in Robinson’s practice from this period. Arranged like toys on a blanket, the wooden plane—with a tail that resembles a waka prow—and the car refer to ideas around social mobility. As well, these images recall the symbolism of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, founder of the Rātana faith, for whom the plane represented spiritual aspirations, while the car, attached to the plane by a ladder, represented the earthly.

The number 96.875 is written on the plane; on the car is the number 3.125. These numbers refer to Robinson’s European and Māori ‘blood’ inheritance. Coupled with a colour palette frequently associated with kōwhaiwhai, these elements can be read as a critique of simplistic and reductive views of culture and identity as being based on numbers and visual characteristics.

— Text developed for Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-ending Beginnings (5 August 2023–11 February 2024), curated by Taarati Taiaroa