A Wellington exhibition is tackling the controversial questions surrounding the mass production of Maori icons and the place of plastic in traditional Maori art.
"Plastic Maori" is an old colloquialism that refers to a person of Maori descent who does not have a grasp on their cultural heritage.
It is also the name of the exhibition, which is on at Wellington's new Dowse.
"A lot of the artists touch on the ideas of the appropriation of Maori culture," says curator Reuben Friend. "They're looking at the commercial use of Maori imagery for financial gain."
The use of customary images for profit has always been a contentious one, but Mr Friend says the artists are not being offensive because they have a firm understanding of the roots behind their work.
"All the artists in this exhibition are still creating customary objects, so they're still creating art forms that come from a maori base," he says. "But they're just doing it in a way that they can comment on new things."
When Manu, a mass-produced Maori doll, first appeared on Play School it was considered very un-PC - until a cultural identity was created for the doll and the she was effectively reclaimed from the souvenir stand.
"People are making money off plastic tiki and these kinds of things, so if somebody is making money why shouldn't it be a Maori?" Mr Friend says. "So in a way they are reclaiming the hei tiki away from the tourist souvenirs and bringing it back to Maori."
Plastic Maori focuses on showing the living face of Maori art - not leaving tradition behind, but reclaiming Maori traditions of innovation.
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