Cookie in Conversation with Tupaia at Tolaga Bay, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, h.1000 x l. 1000mm, Private Collection
Thursday, October 25, 2018 - 5:30pm
Annenberg School for Communication, Room 111, 3620 Walnut Street
Karen Stevenson, Senior Adjunct, Department of Art History and Theory, University of Canterbury
"Navigating Pacific Art History’s Turbulent Waters"
2018 is the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first voyage into the Pacific. This voyage was the beginning of a conversation between the West and the peoples of the Pacific – a conversation mired with misunderstandings and misinformation. This talk will address a number of issues that have arisen as a result of these miscommunications; at times creating unwarranted judgements, at others confrontations, yet ideally developing relationships based on understanding.
In this process, Stevenson will provide a summary of the discipline of Pacific Art History, its scholars and its role in both an animosity towards ‘white scholars’ and a growing understanding of the arts that have been and continue to be produced in the Pacific.