Te Huringa / Turning Points

Te Huringa / Turning Points: Pakeha Colonisation and Maori Empowerment is a national touring exhibition of paintings from the collections of The Fletcher Trust and Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui.

It presents a diverse range of historic and contemporary paintings grouped according to themes.  These themes present a visual history of this country's journey from historic paintings of Maori and Maori subject matter by Pakeha through to the perspectives of contemporary Maori artists.  Each work or group of works has a label giving two viewpoints - Maori and Pakeha; one contributed by each curator, Dr Jo Diamond, Nga Puhi-nui-tonu, Lecturer in Art History, University of Canterbury and Peter Shaw, Curator of the Fletcher Trust Collection.

This groundbreaking approach to selecting artworks for an exhibition and interpretation of them is an attempt to show how representations can be differently felt depending on your cultural background.  By emphasising multiple readings of paintings, Te Huringa / Turning Points encourages a tolerant approach to art viewing, given the sometimes politically contentious intersection between two cultures, one indigenous, the other post-colonial.

The exhibition has been carefully designed to appeal directly to people of all ages and backgrounds.  It can be enjoyed on a number of levels, simply as an appreciation of outstanding art works by well-regarded artists, interesting combinations of paintings or, if viewers wish to engage with the broader issues, Te Huringa / Turning Points is an opportunity to encounter important ideas in New Zealand history.