Exhibitions » Exhibition Archive » Deane Gallery Archive » Greg Semu: The Battle of the Noble Savage
Greg Semu: The Battle of the Noble Savage
6 August - 6 November 2011 in the Deane Gallery
As part of the wider Oceania project between City Gallery Wellington and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa during the Real New Zealand Festival 2011, the Deane Gallery will feature a special solo exhibition by Greg Semu entitled 'The Battle of the Noble Savage'.
Greg Semu is an Auckland-born artist of Samoan descent who recently relocated to Sydney after ten years based in Paris. As an artist of Pacific descent, Semu’s international travels have enabled him to experience different world views and perceptions of Oceanic art, culture and people.
Semu’s first showing at City Gallery Wellington was in the landmark exhibition 'Bottled Ocean' (1994), curated by the late Jim Vivieaere. Semu’s inclusion in ‘Bottled Ocean’ took the form of a graffiti inspired corrugated iron work which spoke of the gritty realities of Pacific communities living in suburban Auckland. That same year Semu directed the Kiwi classic ‘In the Neighbourhood’ music video for the hip hop group Sisters Underground, which dealt with similar themes around cultural realities and public perceptions.
The ‘Battle of the Noble Savage’ series, commissioned by the museé du quai Branly, Paris (2007), responds to the ‘Bonded by Blood’ poster for the New Zealand All Blacks. Gifted to the quai Branly to commemorate the All Black’s 2006 tour of France and the 2007 World Cup, the poster depicted the All Blacks performing their signature haka ‘Ka mate, Ka mate’ amidst a tropical rainforest. As an additional promotional strategy, the designers literally ‘bonded’ blood samples taken from the players into the printing process.
In an act of subversion, Semu’s response poses fictitious scenes of Māori ‘warriors’ engaged in battle, seemingly celebrating the fighting spirit of Māori while addressing the objectionable stereotypes of Pacific people as ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’. Exploiting the classical romanticism of early colonial portraiture, Semu’s battle scenes hark back to early colonial paintings by Louis J. Steele, Nicholas Chevalier, Walter Wright and Charles F. Goldie and others. In this way ‘Battle of the Noble Savage’ becomes a satirical commentary on the historical and contemporary international purchase of the ‘noble savage’ image.
He kaitango-whakaahua ā Greg Semu i whānau mai i Tamaki Makaurau. He uri ia nō Hamoa, ā, kātahi anō ia i nuku kāinga ki Poihākena mai Parī (i noho ia ki Wīwī mō ngā tau tekau). Nā ōna haerenga ki wī, ki wā, ka ahei ā Semu i te mohiotanga o ngā whakaaro, o ngā kitenga hoki ā-tauiwi e pā ana ki te mahi toi, tīkanga, tangata hoki o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Ko ‘Bottled Ocean’ tāna whakakitenga tuatahi ki te Whare Toi o Te Whanganui-ā-Tara i te tau 1994–na mātua Jim Vivieaere (kua whetūrangitia) i whakarite. Ko te tikanga o tāna mahi toi i taua wā, ko te taukumekumetanga o ngā tangata moutere ki te whai mahi, ki te whai tūrangawaewae hoki ki Tāmaki Makaurau. I aua wā, i tohungia ia te tino pūoro ataata ‘In the Neighbourhood’ mō te ropu hip hop ā Sisters Underground. Pērā tōnu te ahuatanga o āna mahi toi ināianei, e whakahura ana i ngā momo ahuatanga o te tuakiri ahurea o ngā tangata moutere o tēnei reanga.
Ko te ‘Battle of the Noble Savage’ he whakakitenga nā te museé du quai Branly ki Pāri i utua (2007). He whakautu tēnei ki te whakaahua whakatairanga ‘Bonded by Blood’ (2006) mo te tīma whutupaoro Kapa o Pango. Ka whakaari te pikitia i ngā toa o te tīma e haka ana ki roto i te ngahere. Otira, ko te mea tino rerekē e pa ana ki tēnei whakaahua, ko te whenumia o te toto o ngā kaitākaro ki te waituhi hei tāia te whakaahua.
Hei tini-whakaaro, ko te whakautu ā Semu, ko ngā whakaahua pakimaero o ngā toa Māori nei e whawhai ana. He mea e whakanuia te wairua-whai-mana o ngā Māori, a, e tautohetohe ana i ngā kitenga kino ā-Tauiwi e pa ana ki ngā ahuatanga o ngā tangata nō Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, pērā ki te whakaaro he ‘iwi toka’, he ‘ iwi mohoao’ rānei. He ahua rite āna whakaahua ki ngā whakaahua korauniara, ā, he mihi ēnei ki ngā hua ā Lois J. Steele, Nicholas Chevalier, Walter Wright, rātou ko Charles F. Goldie mā. Ka mahi m āminga te “Battle of the Noble Savage” hei kōrero mō ngā pōhēhētanga ā-Tauiwi o nehe, onāianei, ā, ka whakahē i te whakaaro he “noble savage” tonu tātou.
Artist's Biography
Greg Semu’s works are held in public collections in France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. His first solo exhibition was at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 1995, and recent exhibitions include ‘roundabout’, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand (2009), ‘Unnerved: The New Zealand Project’, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2009), ‘Art in the Contemporary Pacific’, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (2009) and ‘Greg Semu’, museé du quai Branly, Paris, France (2007).
To view the exhibiton check out the City Gallery Wellignton youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/citygallerywgtn