Pisupo Lua Afe | |
---|---|
English: Corned Beef 2000 | |
Artist | Michel Tuffery |
Year | 1994 |
Type | Sculpture |
Medium | Tin, rivets |
Movement | Pop art |
Dimensions | 1150 mm× 650 mm(45 in× 26 in) |
Location | Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington |
Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000) is a pop art sculpture created by the New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery in 1994. It is the first in a series of tin animals, made from the packaging of foods common in Samoa. Addressing his Samoan heritage, neocolonialism and the distress of indigenous peoples in the Pacific, it is one of his most celebrated works.
"Does foreign intervention encourage cultural and economic independence - or dependence?" was the question posed by Tuffery when the sculpture was unveiled at the exhibition Bottled Ocean, curated by Jim Vivieaere, at City Gallery Wellington in 1994. A pop art sculpture unique to the predominately Western art movement, Pisupo Lua Afe consists of a bull made of hundreds of tinned corned beef cans held together by rivets. The artwork addresses the plight of traditional Samoan cuisine and health due to the introduction of pisupo- unhealthy, commercial tinned food- by Europeans. [lower-alpha 1] Now a major part of Samoan culture, foreign-produced pisupo such as corned beef has become ubiquitous across their communities both in Samoa and across the diaspora, with gifting of these items customary at weddings and birthdays. This unhealthy dependence on predominately New Zealand, Australian and American companies is inherently neocolonial in nature, showing how much lobbying power New Zealand still has in Samoa almost 60 years since independence. [1]
Tuffery aimed to portray Samoans as courageous despite the power that white-owned foreign food manufacturers wield. The bull is both representative of the animal corned beef comes from (and the environmental impact it has in Samoa, an especially climate crisis-vulnerable country), and the strength of the Samoan people to overcome colonialism. The work is on display at Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand's national museum and the 17th-most visited art museum in the world. [2]
Taking an influence from pop art, the work consists of a bull made of hundreds of tinned corned beef cans held together by rivets. Pisupo Lua Afe concerns New Zealand's questionable trade practices across the South Pacific[ citation needed ], where it wields significant influence as a regional power. For Tuffery, corned beef (or pisupo in Samoan) [lower-alpha 2] is representative of the high-fat, unhealthy foods foreign companies have introduced to Samoa. These foods have led to disproportionately high incidences of diabetes and heart disease in Pacific Island populations, as diets formerly high in locally grown fruits and vegetables, seafood, coconut milk and flesh, have given way to cheap, imported foodstuffs. Neocolonialism is addressed here via the choice of corned beef; after Samoa's independence from New Zealand in 1962, food businesses in the latter country have greatly contributed to an unhealthy diet that many Samoans have fallen victim to. [1] Not only is corned beef a favorite food source in the Islands, it has also become a ubiquitous part of the ceremonial gift economy. [3]
Such brands of corned beef Tuffery aimed to criticise included Pacific, an Australian brand owned by American conglomerate Kraft-Heinz which specifically markets itself towards Pacific Islanders. It has been maligned for doing so, and also for its use of name "Pacific" as misleading people into thinking the brand is Pasifika-owned. However, the Fijian-made brand Golden Country was the one used in the art, but since the introduction of European cattle to the pacific has degraded Pacific landscapes nonetheless, using a non-European brand did not affect the potency of the message Tuffery was conveying. [4]
The symbolism of the bull is used to portray both the animal from which corned beef is derived, and the strength and courage of the Samoan people to overcome colonialism. The latter of which was both a hallmark of New Zealand's colonial rule in Samoa after gaining it from German rule as a League of Nations mandate, and still affects Samoan New Zealanders resident in the country today. Tuffery was also interested in the impact of the introduction of cattle to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands; the hard, abrasive tin is used in the artwork also to symbolise the damage these industries have. The endemic plants, landscapes and waterways of these countries are still being negatively affected by this colonial decision. Additionally, Tuffery was interested in how processed meat products such as corned beef have negatively impacted traditional Samoan food production, and have led to a "throw-away mentality". [5]
Pisupo Lua Afe (Corned Beef 2000) has been the subject of wide popular and critical acclaim. Critics commended the originality of Tuffery to use pop art in a way that addressed racism and economic dependence, and how the aesthetic simplicity of the work meant it could appeal towards children, as well as adults. The appeal to children persists; an episode of the TVNZ 7 children's series Tales From Te Papa was centered on the artwork, and the artwork is located near the Samoan-themed children's area of Te Papa. [3]
In her writeup for the Christchurch Art Gallery, curator Jennifer Hay described the work as a “wry socio-political message” concerning the place of foreign imported goods in Samoa as part of the larger presence of colonialism in the Pacific Islands. [4] The work has become possibly Tuffery's best known, and is considered an important work of both Pop art and Kiwiana. [5]
The positive reception to Pisupo Lua Afe encouraged Tuffery to create more animal-based works made out of food tins. With more bulls to work with, Tuffery decided to create a piece of performance art entitled Povi tau vaga (The bull challenge), for the Wellington opening of the exhibition for the continued Povi Pisupo series. Working with artist Patrice Kaikilekofe, his bulls, accompanied by Samoan drumming and dancing, were wheeled along a route through central Wellington to the City Gallery in Te Ngākau Civic Square, where a "bullfight" commenced. This time, they included a wooden frame and wheels, so it could be transported more easily. Fireworks and Christmas tree lights were placed inside these powered bulls, showing a frightening mechanical display of colour. This performance was widely popular, prompting Tuffery to repeat the event for both the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane in 1999, both times with the new bull Povi Christkeke (Christchurch Bull). [5] In Brisbane, the bulls were raced around inside the gallery while fireworks exploded, surprisingly causing no damage; this fiery spark is said to sum up Tuffery as a groundbreaking artist. [6]
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid- to late-1950s. The movement presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane mass-produced objects. One of its aims is to use images of popular culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any culture, most often through the use of irony. It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, or combined with unrelated material.
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa, it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery. An average of more than 1.5 million people visit every year, making it the 26th-most-visited art gallery in the world. Te Papa operates under a bicultural philosophy, and emphasises the living stories behind its cultural treasures.
Campbell's Soup Cans is a work of art produced between November 1961 and March or April 1962 by American artist Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuring 20 inches (51 cm) in height × 16 inches (41 cm) in width and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each of the canned soup varieties the company offered at the time. The non-painterly works were Warhol's hand-painted depictions of printed imagery deriving from commercial products and popular culture and belong to the pop art movement.
Michael Te Rakato Parekōwhai is a New Zealand sculptor and a professor at the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts. He is of Ngāriki Rotoawe and Ngāti Whakarongo descent and his mother is Pākehā.
Bully beef is a variety of meat made from finely minced corned beef in a small amount of gelatin. The name "bully beef" likely comes from the French bouilli in Napoleonic times, or possibly from the head of a bull depicted on the popular Hereford brand of canned corned beef. The cans have a distinctive oblong shape. Bully beef and hardtack biscuits were the main field rations of the British Army from the Boer War to World War II. It is commonly served sliced in a corned beef sandwich. Potato-based dishes, such as "hash and hotch-potch", in which the potatoes and beef are stewed together, and "corned beef hash", where pre-boiled potatoes and corned beef are mixed with Worcestershire sauce then fried, are also made. Tinned corned beef is also used in France. Some places where British troops were present in the 20th century, such as Malta, have adopted bully beef as part of their national cuisine. In February 2009, the British Defence Equipment and Support announced that they would be phasing out bully beef from ration packs as part of the introduction of the new Multi-Climate Ration Packs until this change was reversed due to backlash.
Michael "Michel" Cliff Tuffery is a New Zealand artist of Samoan, Tahitian and Cook Islands descent. He is one of New Zealand's most well known artists and his work is held in many art collections in New Zealand and around the world.
Mark Adams is one of New Zealand's most distinguished photographers.
Fatu Akelei Feu'u is a noted Samoan painter from the village of Poutasi in the district of Falealili in Samoa. He has established a reputation as the elder statesman of Pacific art in New Zealand.
Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist of Japanese and Samoan descent. In 2008, her work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; it was the first time a New Zealander and the first time a Pacific Islander had a solo show at the institution. Titled Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, the exhibition opened from 7 October 2008 to 1 February 2009. Kihara's self-portrait photographs in the exhibitions included nudes in poses that portrayed colonial images of Polynesian people as sexual objects. Her exhibition was followed by an acquisition of Kihara's work for the museum's collection.
James Patrick Hanly, generally known as Pat Hanly, was a prolific New Zealand painter. One of his works is a large mural Rainbow Pieces (1971) at Chrischurch Town Hall.
The Fray Bentos food brand is associated with tinned processed meat products, originally corned beef and, latterly, meat pies. The brand has been sold in the United Kingdom, other European countries, and Australia. Created in the second half of the 19th century, the name is derived from the port of Fray Bentos in Uruguay where the products were originally processed and packaged until the 1960s. The brand is now owned in the UK by Baxters, which manufactures the product range in Scotland. Additionally, the Campbell Soup Company manufactures and sells Fray Bentos branded steak and kidney pies in Australia.
Pacific Sisters is a collective of Pacific and Māori artists, performers, fashion designers, jewellers and musicians.
Dame Robin Adair White is a New Zealand painter and printmaker, recognised as a key figure in the regionalist movement of 20th-century New Zealand art.
Bottled Ocean was an exhibition of work by New Zealand artists of Pacific Island descent that was shown at a number of metropolitan art galleries in New Zealand in 1994–1995. It featured the work artists who have become notable figures in New Zealand and internationally.
Te Moemoea no Iotefa was the first exhibition held in a civic art gallery in New Zealand focused on contemporary Pacific art.
Ioane Ioane is a New Zealand artist of Samoan descent. His work is informed by his Samoan heritage and includes performance, film, painting, installation and sculpture. In conversation about his work Fale Sā with art historian Caroline Vercoe, Ioane states, Sacred places are not necessarily a church, but it's a place where one likes to be in, a place of affirmation. Curator Ron Brownson writes, Ioane's attitude to sculptural process is cosmological – his carvings bind present reality with a representation of the past.
James Earnest Vivieaere, a New Zealand artist of Cook Island Maori heritage, was born in Waipawa, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. He was a well-respected and significant multimedia and installation artist, freelance curator and a passionate advocate for contemporary Pacific art.
Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka, is an interdisciplinary artist of Tongan heritage who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2011, he was awarded the Emerging Pasifika Artist Award from Creative New Zealand. Maka's work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries in New Zealand, Hawai'i Australia and Tonga. In 2020 he was selected to represent New Zealand at the 22nd Biennale in Sydney.
Edith Amituanai is a New Zealand photographic artist. In 2007, she was the inaugural recipient of the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award. Examples of her work are held in the collections of Te Papa, Auckland Art Gallery, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Andy Leleisi’uao is a New Zealand artist of Samoan heritage known for his modern and post-modern Pacific paintings and art. He was paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards in 2017 and awarded a Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in 2021.