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DanseNiki Hastings-McFall

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DanseNiki Hastings-McFall

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You describe your work as object based. Can you explain what you mean by this?

The narrative contained within certain objects has always interested me and it is this history that can add to the layers of meaning within a work. Take for example the use of Crown Lynn ceramics in the Vanitas series. Arguably part of our nation’s vernacular, these white Crown Lynn vases have resonance for many Kiwis. However these ceramics are not only figuratively but also literally part of our cultural landscape, the clay having been sourced from as far afield as Matauri Bay in Northland, the Whau Valley near Whangarei and Maungaparerua near Keri Keri to Mount Summers in Canterbury in the South Island.

Crown Lynn urns were commonly used in funerary decorations. Made from the earth and modelled on the crematorium urns used during the ritual process of returning us to the earth – there is a satisfyingly circular and synchronous symmetry at work. The link between funerary urns used for flower arrangements and the subject matter that the Vanitas works refer to is fairly self evident. It is these objects and their histories that inform, generate and add layers of meaning to the works I make.

It’s also important to me where my objects come from. I have my own stories to add to the materials souvenired from a wide variety of sources. These objects become talismans and touchstones for memory. Some I have had for forty years or more, some are picked up off the roadside, some are scavenged

SPEAK FROM THE HEART

APOCALYPSE 2010Synthetic fabric, lighting unit, plastic, limewash, metal, lampstandPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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from junk shops, some ‘won’ on Trade Me and some are gifted. For example our friend Hamish’s mum was a florist for many years and these Crown Lynn urns were part of her stock in trade. Hamish still remembers getting teased by his schoolmates as he had to deliver floral arrangements for her as a teenager. Just the other day he arrived here with a very old urn from her collection that she had asked him to give to me. The act that I have never met his mum underlines the generosity apparent in such a gesture, yet also speaks to the power of objects, that through a common interest they may generate such warmth and connection between comparative strangers.

Can you explain the importance of the materials that you use in your work?

Materials are employed with deliberate attention to their former lives. There is a language of materials, a symbolism inherent in the actual parts that make up the whole, such as the Urban Navigator series. Made from materials such as aluminium sheet, auto paint and diamond grade reflective roadsign vinyls that relate directly to their origins the Urban Navigator series utilises the chevron pattern prevalent in much roadway signage. These modular works reference ancient Pacific methods of navigation, for instance stick charts, as well as modern urban systems of orientation. In keeping with Pacific tradition the patterns for these urban tapa designs are sourced directly from the immediate environment. The chevron and the closely related dentate pattern or triangle are typically generic Polynesian patterns and have multiple associations with oceanic and maritime themes. They are found in much Pacific Island material culture – such as weaving, tattoo, carving, tapa cloth, clothing, adornment, inlay, engraving and so on – dating right back to the Lapita pottery culture of the earliest Pacific settlements. Parallels are drawn between the great ancient Pacific traditions of migration and exploration and 21st century urban Polynesian travels. These patterns symbolise movement, evolution and dynamism. The format and the materials have symbolic associations that contextualise the work and directly relate to the key concepts of migration and navigation.

Another example of this deliberate consideration of materials is the use of light within many works, such as Long White Cloud, Vao, several of the Vanitas pieces and an extensive series of lei covered lightboxes. The use of light in these works is a direct reference to the commonly employed artifice within Western art, where light say from a window or a lamp (or a waterfall slicing through the landscape) signifies divinity, enlightenment and spirituality.

Was there a particular point when you decided to develop your jewellery based practice into more sculptural forms?

It wasn’t really a conscious decision as such, at least not in the beginning. Because I was researching Polynesian body adornment I was generating relatively large works – not that scale is the sole difference between the two, but it provided a platform for my practice to evolve from. I focussed particularly on lei and breastplates and both these forms can take on quite large proportions in relation to the body anyway . . . examples of floral and shell lei that reach nearly to the ground are not unusual; breastplates that covered the entire chest area and functioned originally as armour used to stave off the enemy’s arrows.

These forms of Pacific body adornment were much larger than the necklaces or pendants that equate to their traditional European counterparts. Lei and breastplate also have innate sculptural qualities that I was interested in exploring further. In the Pacific there are no distinctions made between art and craft. My research into these areas necessitated transitioning beyond media, scale and western notions of high art and (low) craft. My entry point into the material culture of Polynesia began with adornment – primarily because I was studying jewellery but also because body adornment is one of the most constant, consistent and prevalent practises within the Pacific.

In the years since the exclusively jewellery based shows such as ‘Past Pacific’ and ‘1 Noble Savage 2 Dusky Maidens’ my exploration of Pacific body adornment continued but I found that jewellery was not always the ideal medium to express or represent a widening circle of influences, media and concepts. The Urban Navigator series, based on road signs and begun in

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2000, necessitated a different format and these works along with the plastic sushi fish nets were pretty much the beginning of my ‘non- jewellery’ work. Around 2002 I introduced a light component and deconstructed the artificial lei to reflect my research into the effects of Christianity on the Pacific. In the last few years I have been making three dimensional small sculptural works based on the Western art historical Vanitas tradition and continuing work on the Va series which was begun in conjunction with the Va-hine collective in 2002. It was the conceptual element which demanded a shift in practice, rather than any deliberate choice on my part to change media or format.which demanded a shift in practice, rather than any deliberate choice on my part to change media or format? However my jewellery beginnings still inform my current practice and are evident in many of the techniques and materials I utilise.

What is it about adornment forms that draws you to them?

Aside from the purely aesthetic worth there is usually always a narrative or history attached to jewellery that adds value far beyond the mere materials. For example Otto Kunzli’s wedding ring necklace, where he advertised for people’s old wedding rings and made a ‘chain’ necklace from them. The necklace immediately became valuable for more than the gold contained therein. The stories of each ring made the work virtually unwearable and at the same time unbearably and utterly fascinating.

The narrative contained within an object has always intrigued me – how an inanimate object can record and encode so much emotion, history, and information. I think it is largely the scale of jewellery that allows this to happen – in general, small, wearable, personal and portable. For many centuries jewellery has functioned in most societies as an indication of the wearers rank, wealth, station and situation. It becomes a statement which may be public or private, depending upon the wearer’s desire to conceal or display. Because of its proximity to the body and ability to be worn constantly, jewellery can contain narrative in ways that most other forms are unable to do at such a personal, intimate level.

The Vanitas series has been exhibited widely throughout New Zealand in galleries such as Pataka, Porirua, the Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, the Serjeant gallery, Whanganui, the Hokianga Gallery, Rawene. They continue to explore central themes in your work. Stylistically however, they seem like quite a departure. What kinds of issues or concerns are you exploring in these works?

I agree that visually there is quite a difference although I still use my early (and continuing) research into Pacific material culture in terms of the traditional formula of lei making. The typically Polynesian use of materials that are sourced in abundance locally and readily available from the immediate (in my case largely urban) environment is a key factor in the manufacture of much traditional work. There is also a common practise of utilising objects in unusual and innovative ways that were probably not part of their original intent. Considering the

NARCISSUS (detail) 2009Synthetic fabric, plastic, glass, lampstandPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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subject matter of the Vanitas series, I enjoy the irony of using or re-using objects and giving them a second life, re-animating them or re-incarnating them into other forms and functions. Deborah Crowe (Principal lecturer, Manukau School of Visual Arts) discusses the works Adam and Maiden – Before and After in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition ‘Built’:

Hastings-McFall builds systematically. Her studio is like a massive compartmentalised toolbox, its contents including abandoned toys from the side of the road, vintage plastic flowers, carefully catalogued second hand lamp stands, banks of bench mounted storage units housing plastic beads, swivel attachments, cable ties, pliers and other hand tools. The two Adam and Maiden works are fabricated from a profusion of these components . . . Plastic skeletons are arranged in ‘before’ and ‘after’ poses . . . Describing these as religious works, although not Christian herself, Hastings-McFall contextualises these works in relation to her personal experience and upbringing . . . Hastings-McFall employs multi-faceted fabrication tactics in her works; they are built from an eclectic and intricate mix of life, book and material research, symbolism drawn from Christianity, Western art and Polynesian culture and are executed with attitude that tangles these together with just a twist of irony.

These works reflect upon the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. Referring to the Vanitas series in the catalogue ‘Now and Then’, Fuli Pereira (Pacific Curator – Auckland Museum) states:

Hastings McFall’s personal narrative led her to the Vanitas painting tradition, within which she found an iconographic language she engaged to contemplate mortality and the unknowable future . . . The genre utilises highly symbolic objects as reminders of the impermanence of life and learning. In contrast to this transience is the enduring nature of faith.

The Vanitas sculptures are injected with Hastings McFall’s customary deft touch and wry humour. That adopted symbol of cancer research, the daffodil, is also known as narcissus. The cause of Echo’s demise, Narcissus

the epitome and definition of vanity and self- absorption.

The post-colonial history of Polynesia is inextricably entwined with Christianity. Stories from the Bible, ancient Greek fables and Western European mythology and folklore are part of my upbringing and create a template learnt as a child that is integral to the way one views the world. The biblical stories learnt whilst growing up and (very reluctantly) attending Sunday school, church and bible class provided a link to my Samoan family. This provides a strong connection between my Pakeha Presbyterian childhood and my formerly unknown Samoan Catholic family. It becomes a microcosm of the interaction and the Va (Space between) that both unites and divides the different cultures.

The first work created in this series and the precursor to the Crucifixion (2009) work in this exhibition titled There is a Green Hill (2008) was exhibited in a show called ‘Stations of the Cross’ at the Gus Fisher Gallery. In his online review of this exhibition John Hurrel writes:

Five works in particular I found physically and mentally engaging . . . Further down the sequence at the Tenth Station, Niki Hastings-McFall has another skeletal Jesus standing on a green hill of foliage and flowers. Awaiting execution and stripped of his clothes, he is holding a vinegar soaked sponge and a straw. There is a lightbox under the plastic leaves and they glow gorgeously. The absent flesh and clothes merge into

one as a metaphor about the transience of life, youth and beauty.

The notion of Va seems to pervade a lot of your work. Can you talk about its significance and meaning to you and how you translate them into your work?

The Samoan principle of the Va or space between can refer to the duality of relationships between people, spaces, the physical and metaphysical, the political and geo-political. It functions variously as a threshold, a passageway, a linkage and a space of intercession.

Va is the space between, the between-ness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together . . . the space that is context, giving meaning to things – ALBERT WENDT 1996

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The Va . . . is a negotiated, interpretative and shifting space I’uogafa Tuagalu Mo’omo’o Mo’omo’o, oso i totonu i le va. (Jump into the gap, we will transfix you) – QUOTED FROM THE VAHINE CATALOGUE

In the past my work has often referenced the liminal space that is occupied as afakasi Polynesians inhabiting an urban environment. Work currently being produced continues my exploration of the idea of Va as a shifting and interstitial site that links the physical and spiritual. Initially research into this concept began with the Va-hine collective (with Lonnie Hutchinson and Lily Laita) which resulted in the funded exhibition and catalogue of the same name.

In the first series of works from the Va series – Spaceblocks, comparisons were drawn between past and present systems of Samoan sociological and religious hierarchy. With the arrival of the European settlers and the introduction of Christianity traditional customs and beliefs were supplanted and superseded. The tia seu lupe (pigeon or star mounds), once sites of immense religious, ceremonial and sociological importance, used for the chiefly sport of pigeon hunting were abandoned and denied.

I think Dr Karen Stevenson succinctly contextualises these works in the catalogue Vahine:

The interface between Polynesian beliefs and Christianity has left the star mounds of Samoa mute. Once sites of interaction – the interface between the natural and the supernatural worlds in pre-Christian Samoan society – they were sites of communication between people and gods . . .

Creating links between the past and present, the island and the urban has been a cornerstone to (Hastings-McFall’s) practice for some time. Here the connection is the architectural structure itself, the building of a sacred place steeped in cultural practice. These mounds in the pre-Christian society of Samoa served the same purpose as the church does today. Places/spaces where rituals are enacted . . . they represent the continuum between past and present. These works can also allude to the snaring of pigeons with the snaring of souls – both core activities of these ritual spaces.

. . . the ‘4 Bird’ pattern . . . clearly references pigeons and offers a less overt reference to that of birds as souls, demigods or inhabitants of the spiritual realm. The pattern is also immediately recognisable as one seen in breezeblocks. As such a bridge between the physical construction of the mounds using boulders and rocks and the breezeblocks used in contemporary church construction is suggested. Furthermore these blocks which incorporate patterns of stars, birds, quatrefoils, crosses, dentate forms etc, reiterate the Samoan aesthetic seen in siapo, carving, weaving and tatau

Niki has a keen ability to make connections between the past and the present . . . This work, utilising her ‘roadsign’ medium creates a relationship between the star mounds as both signposts to the past and a tangible link to the present.

The breezeblock/Siapo motifs utilised in the earlier works are carried over but the format of these recent Va works (begun 2010) has been modified. Consisting of several layers of acrylic and vinyl this change in construction creates more depth and a more apparent visual richness. The spaces between the different elements in the work literally reflect the notion of the Va and are integral to the concept of these works.

Whilst discussing tapa cloth patterns with Mike Weston, we both remarked upon the ability of these objects to act as optical mantra or mandala. The intent of the Va works is to function in a similar fashion, acting as a way to quiet the mind, to turn down the white noise of urban life, a passageway to meditation, a portal to the space between.

Do you see a relationship between the Vanitas and Va series?

Yes definitely. Although quite different both visually and in construction, the Vanitas works reflect upon the transience of life and inevitability of our demise, while the Va works refer to spirituality and an afterlife. They consider the notion of a spirit world, a hope in reincarnation of some kind, a belief in the unbelievable, the formulation of some kind of faith that may endure and sustain.

Page 12 CRUCIFIXION 2009Synthetic fabric, lighting unit, plastic, glass, lamp standPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

Page 13 ADAM AND MAIDEN- AFTER 2009Synthetic fabric, lighting unit, plastic, plant standPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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Danse Like No-one’s Watching

Niki Hastings-McFall – like her surname her art reflects a juxtapositioning and hyphenation of her Palagi and Samoan heritages, a binary that in practice is intimately entwined and interrelated.

While Hastings-McFall was not brought up within a Samoan family, her art practice, which developed from the early 1990s, addressed and continues to explore a number of key issues relevant to the discourse of a then emerging contemporary Pacific art practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand. She now takes her place as a key figure in the contemporary Pacific art scene both locally and internationally. Her work has been exhibited in defining exhibitions including Bottled Ocean, Latitudes, Paradise Now? and Pasifika Styles. These exhibitions have helped to create a wider framework in the conceptualising of contemporary Pacific creative expression, clearly locating Aotearoa/New Zealand within the Pacific as well as in an international context. Much of Hastings-McFall’s work has been discussed in terms of cultural identity, an exploration of her identity, simultaneously reflecting on and referring to Pacific cross-cultural histories and colonial legacies. Her art practice is much broader though, for the dynamics of identity resonate in more complex and multifaceted ways.

One’s identity is shaped by the everyday, by memories, friendships, belief systems, sexuality and political leanings among other things. Cultural heritage is one element of identity, there are many others. While her work may have taken on different forms stylistically over the years, there has been an on-going exploration and reflection on binary notions

UNTITLED Va series, 2010Acrylic, diamond grade reflective roadsign vinylPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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such as dual heritages, indigeneity and colonialism, and more general, universal concerns like life/death, absence/presence, permanence/transience, memory/myth, the religious and the secular. An exploration of materials and their narrative potential have consistently been intimately associated with her work which she sees as object-based and conceptually driven.

Often drawing on motifs and patterns from a range of Pacific art forms and employing materials such as colourful synthetic flowers, Hastings-McFall layers extra meanings to their engaging decorative appeal through the use of evocative titles and the narrative symbolism of her materials. The visual impact is only part of the overall aesthetic. The series Too Much Sushi (2003), a work of almost three metres in length, takes the form of a lei comprising sterling silver and small plastic fish bottles that one would usually find filled with soy sauce in a sushi box, shaped to resemble flowers. As with many of her works, on closer inspection other narratives emerge.

The Pacific islands sprawl over one third of the earth’s surface; island groups stretched over a vast expanse of ocean. Where once fishing was a major provider for communities, commercial fishing, environmental damage along with the rise of a dependence on imported, mass-produced food have meant that traditional practices of food gathering are less prevalent. There are also major waste issues in many island

nations due to the largely unbiogradable mass of plastic and tin that comes with its consumption. Hastings-McFall has used the innocuous looking plastic fish in other works too, not only to comment on environmental concerns, but also to engage viewers with issues relating to Christianity and the impact of missionaries in the Pacific. The fish, an iconic symbol of Christian faith – Christ the fisher of men – is referenced in the series Soulcatcher (2001). Made from hundreds of these small plastic soy sauce bottles linked with silver jump rings, its simple and elegant form suggests the net or catcher alluded to in its title, though it also resembles domestic net curtains – a reference to the window as a symbol of enlightenment or divinity. This ambiguity and openness to meaning has become a characteristic of Hastings-McFall’s work.

The Urban Navigator series (2001) comprised large-scale highly graphic works in powder coated aluminum and reflective road sign vinyl, suggesting very different means of travel for those navigating in the past and present. In these works she manipulates the triangular chevron pattern, a form employed in some of the earliest carvings and fibre works found in the Pacific. Works like Red Moana (2007) feature large scale highly stylized triangular patterned forms, strikingly dramatic in their use of brightly coloured reflective roadsign vinyls. The material is immediately familiar, yet recontextualised to comment on ways and means of navigation in historical and contemporary

TOO MUCH SUSHI 2003 (detail) Plastic soy sauce bottles, sterling silverPhoto: John Collie

RED MOANA 2007Diamond grade roadsign vinyl, acrylic sheetPhoto: Unknown

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times. Another important development in her art practice was the utilisation of light boxes covered in masses of colourful artificial flowers. In these works the use of light extends her interests in materiality and its signifying power. Light becomes an integral and essential component, symbolising faith, enlightenment and spirituality.

The artist’s use of materials as narrative devices echoes the symbolism inherent in many of the patterns that she employs. Motifs seen in woven forms and tapa (decorated barkcloth) often reference elements in the natural environment, albeit in a highly stylized manner and often have specific names. Other seemingly abstract forms refer to particular genealogies and significant historical events. Referring to the ‘named mats’, Kie Hingoa, Queen Salote of Tonga has said,“Our history is written, not in our books, but in our mats.”1 In saying this, she highlights the central role that objects, ceremonial events and performances play in the maintenance of cultural practice. In migrant contexts like Aotearoa/New Zealand, where large communities of people from around the Pacific live, cultural practices continue and often thrive, albeit with necessary adaptations and innovations. This practice of drawing from the immediate urban environment for inspiration and materials is a central concern in many Pacific artists’ work. Hastings-McFall was born and raised in West Auckland. Since childhood she has walked or ridden (horse or motorbike) most of the bush tracks and suburban roads in the Waitakere area. Many of the objects gathered on these daily perambulations are reconfigured into her works.

The practice of using the inherent qualities and function of materials to extend the narrative of her work also echoes the symbolic use of particular materials in Pacific body adornment, such as hair and ivory. Computer Kapkap (1996) for instance, comprises brass plate, intricately worked to take on the form of a breastplate and overlaid onto a computer disc. It reflects on the way that knowledge and meaning is stored in different cultural contexts. In subsequent works that feature in this breastplate series, the shell and the plastic disc are used in different contexts to contain or demonstrate forms of knowledge. Their titles also highlight the way that visual forms, often adornment, can carry meaning.

Works like Past Currency (1996) and Cash or Credit (1996) explore cross-cultural interaction and exchange, always referring to the interface between the historical and contemporary. Both take necklace forms and comprise different forms of currency, some dating back to pre-colonial times in the Pacific. Finely cut pieces of white shell, which were traded, along with red feathers and finely woven mats within and between different island groups,2 sit alongside obsolete New Zealand two-cent pieces and blue beads. In the 19th century, blue beads and mirrors were a form of currency for Western missionaries and settlers. Very soon, they replaced natural objects in a range of Pacific body adornments. Cut up credit cards also feature in Cash or Credit, a reference to present day transaction and exchange; they are drilled and strung together with blue beads and cut white shell.

In her Urban Lei (begun 1999) series, throwaway materials like plastic shopping bags, net curtains, cut up plastic milk bottles and pleated paper are used to construct large sculptural lei forms. By redeploying these prosaic materials into art forms, Hastings-McFall also acknowledges the innovation and ingenuity of many migrant Pacific women who, in the absences of natural materials and dyes, do exactly the same thing in relation to their production of different forms of adornment, woven objects and textiles. It illustrates a continnum of cross-cultural acts of borrowing and assimilation resulting in a revisioning of existing forms.

UNTITLED Va series, 2010Acrylic, diamond grade reflective roadsign vinylPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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For many Pacific artists exploring notions of home and belonging in migrant contexts, the domestic space becomes central to their art practice. Alongside the interrogation of identity through the appropriation and reworking of stereotypes, themes of home, homeland and belonging have also emerged as important points of reference and exploration.

A familiar cultural practice in many Pacific homes is to place a lei around photographs of a relatives or special friends. Hastings-McFall’s series Afio Mai (2003) features a number of photographs of landscape images around which the artist places lei made from copies of the works. These images have important significance to her. They were taken by her Grandfather. For the artist, the Waitakere landscapes that he photographed signify both him and his love of these places. Arguably more evocative than an image of a person, they offer a tribute to him. By choosing to acknowledge him in this way, she departs from the convention of exhibiting his image and creates a conflation of place and person; of absence and presence.

Dad’s Chair (2006) from the Polynisation series takes this practice even further. Colourful synthetic flowers completely smother the lampshade, picture frame, ashtray and chair in the work. They seem to have been grafted onto the objects, covering them, growing over all, as if being covered by the heritage and culture unknown as a child, but celebrated as an adult. Dad’s Chair offers a recontextualising of a familiar chair, table and photograph, all of which are loaded with personal significance – heightened by the nuance of childhood memory.

This particular work, Dad’s Chair (2006) recreates my grandfather’s ‘spot’ in the lounge where he spent long hours relaxing, reading, listening to music and smoking his pipe. The photograph is from his much-loved slide collection, which I have inherited. Dad was a keen amateur photographer and spent many hours tramping round our neck of the woods in the scenic Waitakere ranges west of Auckland, photographing the beauty he saw around him. … The floral lei have been dismantled and placed around the image in much the same way as my Samoan family adorns and honours their photos.3

The process of covering objects and forms with artificial flowers is conceptualised by the artist in terms of ‘Polynisation’. Another

work from this series Long White Cloud (2008 Suter collection) consists of around thirty standard lamps placed in a row, topped by lampshades smothered in white flowers. The work references the Maori name for Aotearoa/New Zealand, and results from continuing research into Polynesian and world mythology. There are myriad myths and legends illustrating the spiritual significance of the land across many cultures. And again, the use of light is conceptually driven, it’s not simply an aesthetic choice. Other works from this series include Parataiso (2004), Vao (2007) and Waterfall (2010), a four storey high installation featuring hundreds of synthetic white flower lei flowing down from ceiling to floor. This monumental work has an immediate visual appeal. Its cascading form suggests a waterfall comprised of masses of white flowers. It holds rich personal and universal symbolism for the artist.

My grandfather photographed most of the waterfalls throughout the Waitakeres during his life in Titirangi. I have used some of these images in my own work, interpreting the waterfall as the light of the land, a symbol of the divine and as a continuing connection to my grandparents and my upbringing in Titirangi and Waiatarua. … There is a waterfall in Samoa called Papase’ea. The tradition is to jump from the top of the waterfall into the pool below. This was a seminal moment in my life where I realised that courage in the face of fear is true courage and this waterfall became my personal symbol of faith.

LONG WHITE CLOUD 2008Standard lamps and shades, synthetic leiPhoto: Duncan Cole

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I also see the waterfall as a symbol of holiness or divinity within the landscape and as such a physical symbol of the metaphysical connection that people form with the landscape.

There is symbolism in the use of the colour white. It can stand at either end of the spectrum and as such at the start and finish of the manifested world. It is seen as the colour of regeneration, initiation, revelation, grace, transfiguration and the symbol of divine manifestation.

Life events and personal experiences have continued to inform Hastings-McFall’s art practice. Whilst considering issues of mortality she researched Western European artistic representations of death. The highly symbolic and sumptuous tradition of Vanitas still-life painting, most famous in Northern European art in the 16th and 17th century, became a rich point of departure. Their characteristic blend of domestic objects, fruit, skulls, clocks, books and instruments in various states of beauty and decay has inspired a series of object based works that are carefully constructed using her signature materials with the addition of small skeleton figures set within the works. The symbolism in the Vanitas paintings resonates with her practice of utilising objects and materials that contain their own symbolism and adding layers of potential meaning through their juxtapositioning. These works often dwell on or explore myths, fables, poetry, legends and biblical stories.

Often the most compelling creative expression emerges from personal experience. Significant life events and issues can resonate across cultures, ages and social backgrounds. Drawing on the traditions of Pacific adornment, Hastings-McFall has developed an art practice and body of work that extends these forms into new mediums and infuses them with narratives of cross-cultural histories and encounter. Filtered by her personal experiences and the open-ended engagement with the everyday, her works mine the visual traditions of the past, offering new insights into their legacies and possibilities in the present.

Dr. Caroline Vercoe is Head of Art History at The University of Auckland. She researches and teaches in Pacific art history and visual culture and postcolonial theory.

UNTITLED Va series, 2010Acrylic, diamond grade reflective roadsign vinylPhoto: Clinton Cardozo

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This publication and the associated exhibition is supported by

Tautai exits to promote, support, and encourage artists with pacific heritage.

As a registered charitable trust Tautai operates on the understanding that the artists remain independent of Tautai and come together through their Tautai connection to participate in art events.

Tautai receives major public funding from Creative New Zealand and also

receives significant funding from ASB Community Trust.

www.tautai.org

Published by Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust, on the occasion of the exhibition Danse at Artstation, 1 Ponsonby Rd, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand, 1 – 19 March 2011.

All works courtesy of the artist, RH Gallery at Woollaston, Nelson and Milford Galleries, Dunedin

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

© Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust 2011, Niki Hastings-McFall and Dr Caroline Vercoe.

ISBN 978-0-473-18412-4

Cover: Narcissus 2009 Synthetic fabric, plastic, glass, lampstand Photo: Clinton Cardozo

Design: Jacinda TorrancePrinting: Soar Printing, Auckland

Endnotes

1. Kenneth Bain. The Friendly Islanders: A Story of Queen Salote and her People. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1967, p. 77.

2. Shell still act as an important form of exchange in some areas of the Pacific.

3. Hastings-McFall quoted in Rosanna Raymond and Amiria Salmond, eds. Pasifika Styles. Cambridge: University of Otago

Press, 2008, p. 124.

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