Pickets

Pickets

Kua whakatūria ko Pickets ki te whakaahua i te rārangi tūtohe—he momo mahi ngātahi hei whakatū tongi, whakakotahi ki te ātetenga, ki te whakapuaki nawe hoki. E āhua rite ana ki ngā tohu whakatairanga ngāwari rawa te utu, i hoahoatia ēnei kīanga hoko Pickets ki te tō i te hīkaka, te hiahia me te māharahara mō te tūpono ka mahue.
I te tau 1994, te tau i hangaia ai ko Pickets, i hiahia te kāwanatanga o Nāhinara ki te whakararau i ngā āwangawanga mō te pānga ahumoni o ngā whakaea mō ngā takahitanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki tētehi pūtea marohi ko tōna rahinga he $1 piriona mō ngā hara katoa, me ngā kerēme katoa o mua (i mua i te 1992). Ko tēnei ara rautaki e kīia nei ko te 'kōpaki pūtea' i tāpae ki ngāi Māori he pūtea motuhake hei whakaea i ngā nawe whenua katoa. Nā te marohi nei i puta te tautohetohe kaha i waenga i te marea me te porotēhe puta noa i te motu.

Ko tētehi whakaaro, ka pānuitia Pickets hei whakaaturanga kōrori e whakatairanga ana i ngā whakaea ki ngā tāngata o Aotearoa kua riri, kua ngākau kawa, kua māharahara rānei ina utu te Karuana mō āna hē me āna takahi o mua i Te Tiriti. He iti noa iho te wāhanga i murua ai i ngā iwi Māori kua whakahokia atu i roto i ngā whakaea. Ko tētehi anō whakaaro, i tēnei mahinga toi ka hoki te mahara ki te pēhitanga, te kawe, me ngā tepe kei runga i ngā kaiārahi Maori ki te whiriwhiri i te whakaea me ngā raruraru kua hua mai i te kaupapa mō te kōpaki pūtea.

I whakaaturia tuatahingia i roto i te whare taonga hoko i te whakaaturanga “New Lines / Old Stock”, ko Pickets tētehi wāhanga o te kohinga puka i roto rā tātarihia ai e Peter Robinson tāna ake ekenga i te mākete hei ringatoi Māori hou i te tīmatanga o ngā tau 1990.


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Pickets is assembled to suggest a picket line—a form of collective action used to establish boundaries, unite in opposition, and air grievances. Resembling bargain-basement signage, these Pickets tote sale pitches designed to elicit a sense of urgency, desire, and a fear of missing out.

In 1994, the year that Pickets was made, the then National government sought to appease concerns about the financial impact of reparations for breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi with a proposed $1 billion fiscal cap on all historic (pre-1992) claims. This policy of expedience known as the ‘fiscal envelope’ offered Māori one-off monetary payments to settle all land grievances. The proposal was met with intense public debate and protest throughout the country.

In one sense, Pickets could be read as an ironic demonstration to sell the notion of reparations to New Zealanders who feel angry, bitter, or apprehensive about the Crown paying for historic injustices and breaches of Te Tiriti. Only a fraction of what has been unjustly taken from Māori has been returned in reparations. In another, the work recalls the pressure, responsibility, and limitations placed on Māori leaders to negotiate redress and the tensions created by the fiscal envelope proposal.
First exhibited within the context of a dealer gallery as part a solo exhibition “New Lines / Old Stock”, Pickets is part of a larger body of text-based works in which Peter Robinson dissected his own market success as an emerging Māori artist in the early 1990s.

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