Christian-Māoriesque – A Transcultural Pictorial Artform

Abstract

This exploration develops the field of intercultural aesthetics by exploring the use of Māori motifs used by non-Māori artists, and looking at the use of those motifs in the context of Christian art.[i]  It surveys a selection of paintings that blend Māori and Christian motifs, and critically evaluates their interculturality. It then looks at how intercultural artworks of religious subject matter can create an instance of pictorial transculturality. An identity for an artistic cross-fertilization between Christianity, Māoritanga, and Pākehā culture is linked with the defining principle of transculturality, and a new term is suggested to categorise this identity, the Christian-Māoriesque.

[i] By “non-Māori artists” I mean all artists who do not identify as Māori, that is, who do not have whakapapa.