Philip Thomas and Professor Joe Ostraff: Department of Visual Arts

I’ll never forget the moment sitting in the large workshop in the basement of Rangi Kipa’s house in Ohope, New Zealand, when he talked about his art and especially the Paraka carvings, a shape based off the prow figure found on traditional Maori Waka (a canoe like watercraft). Kipa, a leading contemporary sculptor, carver, and tattoo artist from New Zealand and Maori, explained that the Paraka has come to represent Kipa’s navigation of his art, which looks back into the customary art techniques, but also forward into the modern art world. It prompts a re-examination of the past identity of the Maori people, but also a re-interpretation of what Maori means. Should the Maori people be defined by the snapshot images of the people taken at the moment of contact with European explorers? Kipa maintains that the Maori’s identity shouldn’t be cemented in the past by this moment, but rather its identity should respect and retain the culture of the past, and then sail forward with the same determination and courage their ancestors displayed when they set off into the deep ocean to settle New Zealand.

Georg Forster and William Hodges made such a snapshot when they visually and verbally described their encounters with the Maori people on their voyage with Captain Cook from 1772-1775. Georg Forster’s account was written in English and German and was widely read all over Germany. His perceptions of the Maori affected generations of explorers and German pioneers to New Zealand, who were among some of the most influential immigrants with the English.

Although the paper is not finished I have done a substantial amount of research and writing. The paper is almost done. I will be presenting my research at the Inquiry Conference organized by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies later this year and have made plans for other journals and conferences in the future.

It has been a learning process to realize that much more is require of a conference level paper. My paper took unexpected turns as I discovered more and more information about Georg Forster. It became apparent that I needed to know a lot more about the surrounding discourse before I could write the paper intelligently. It took more time than I anticipated gaining the background knowledge necessary and my timetable had to be adjusted. It was also difficult trying to write about the artist William Hodges, since I haven’t studied art, and then to try to compare it art. It wasn’t so much comparing the painting and book rather than trying to sort out the different academic dialogs of art and literature and combining the two into a coherent thesis.

I am discovering an important thread where art and literature meet. Both artists struggled with competing objectives. On the one hand they were compelled to objectively and scientifically document their experiences, on the other hand they both were influenced by the pure splendor of the scenes and experiences and sought to convey these emotions honestly. This impulse leads them to produce the record with aesthetics in mind. The resulting combination of words and images reveals an image that meets both the art and science worlds’ demands, yet satisfied neither.

Writing, obtaining, and working with the ORCA grant has been a singular experience. It has been completely life altering in so many ways. It has set me off on my own voyage into the unknown. Thank you very much.