The Tongan Style exhibition at Fresh gallery was something that did not interest me much. I know very little about the Tongan culture and even less about embroidery and crochet. However I do apprieciate the level of skills it would take to make a sheet or dress with this sort of embroidery on it.
I understand the position I am in as a westener, I am forced to look into this culture and art from the outside. This makes me a little hesitant to make judgements about it and such. This type of gaze is different to the male gaze. I feel the male gaze is intrusive and judgemental, and in contrast the identity gaze is careful and curious.
These sheets and dresses put the Tongan culture into what I think would be quite a contemporary context compared to normal Tongan culture. These pieces of work are associated with traditional things such as religion and marriage but in this context they are seen as works of art.
I think it would take a lot of learning to fully appreciate and understand what these works of art a really about, the gallery staff who talked to us about them mentioned that the patterns were made up of symbols. This is just a little piece of insight.
Symbols of what? Symbols meaning what?
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job given your disinterest in the subject, however, if you weren't keen on the show you could have spent more time talking about artists in the lecture, and maybe talking about the contrast in different styles of indigenous art portrayed in the lecture and the gallery. Try doing a little bit of research and you will find an angle that will interest you, even if the work on display does not.
TX