AS 90913: Tracey Tawhiao Subversion - Blog Post 3

Subversion through recolonising? 

Sofia Minson -  listen, read the transcript and/or close captions, take notes, link the video.

- Sofia Minson's artworks are about myths, legends, and cosmology.

- She combines different cultures in her artwork.

- Her artworks are named after gods and goddesses such as Queen of Raa and Mother Mary.

- She wants people in her portrait to be seen as ancestors and deities speaking to the viewers.

Locate one artwork -Quick thumbnail label everything. 

                                Reference

Describe the artwork?

This artwork shows a waka(canoe) resting upon an empty shore. It has a gloomy background with a light shining in the middle.  

Does Minson's work show subversion? If so how? If not, why?

Minson's work does show subversion. This is shown through the message behind the artwork. According to its description, this artwork is about a lonely waka resting upon the shores of Aotearoa after a long journey. Minson is trying to bring the fact that Kupe and the Matahorua's crew's presence should be felt after they've abandoned their waka to explore a new land. If they didn't discover it in the first place, they wouldn't be able to come upon the unidentified place - referring to the discovery of New Zealand.

How does she use what exists already to 4 ideas?

"It's mainly the myths, the legends, the cosmology, of—that I get from my Maori Culture that really comes through. Then I sort of find links with Hinduism and Christianity and with Egyptian mythology and sort of love—you know, combining all those different cultures." -Sofia Minson(Interview)

- My understanding from this is that the things she uses that already exist (different cultures) help her create ideas for her artworks by combining and finding links in between them.  

What differences can you list between Minson and Tawhiao's work?

- Tawhiao uses text and Minson doesn't.

- Tawhiao uses grids to separate her work whereas Minson uses objects or patterns.

- Minson uses multiple cultures in her work, but Tawhiao only focuses on one (Maori culture).

- Tawhiao's work is mostly patterns. Unlike Tawhiao, Minson's work is about animals, nature, and landscape.

- Minson uses canvas for her artwork, but Tawhiao uses newspaper.