In her travels to Rarotonga, Samoa and New Caledonia, Samoan artist Niki Hastings-McFall was impressed by the vibrancy of colour seen in the houses and clothing as well as the contrast of white seen in the coral beaches and the churches.
Niki has used these two colour fields as her colour palette for her latest exhibition ‘Seeing the Light’, which was launched at Milford Galleries in Dunedin in mid March and runs till 9 April. The use of light references enlightenment and is a metaphor for spirituality.
At the heart of Niki Hastings-McFall’s art is a recomposition of mass produced flowers which can be purchased anywhere and everywhere. Added to this (as in behind) is light. Put together with delicacy, purpose and social vision we see transformation occur.
There are two separate but inter-related bodies of work in “Seeing the Light” – tondo’s and light boxes. Each of these is redolent with multiple layers of meanings and symbolic languages. They are also (it must be stated) collectively and individually very beautiful. There is no doubt that there is celebration, love and beauty present.
Yet there are other things, too. The lei has long been recognised as one of the most potent of all Pacific emblems but while expressive of love and welcome, it became to Christian missionaries a symbol of promiscuity and a battleground for hearts and minds. Christianity – so embraced in the Pacific cultures – sought to civilise through a variety of processes, including (most insidiously) denial by dismantling “indigenous belief systems and cultural practises”.
One of the most profound effects of colonialism and the missionisation of the Pacific “has been the move by many Islanders into urban areas”, to such an extent that Auckland is now the single largest Polynesian population centre anywhere in the world. This in turn has had obvious, continuous effects upon NZ identity to the unquestionable extent that “home” is now “here” in the South Pacific, no longer “there”; Britain or Europe.
Niki Hastings-McFall’s use of mass produced flowers reflects this urbanisation, the advent of material culture and comments directly on it. She uses crosses as both a historical and colonial emblem and also as a spiritual symbol of hope and love. She is “exploring the complicated intersections of culture and identity.”
“At the heart of these works is the unexpected animation of the blossoms by florescent light. There is something about their being disconnected from the more usual environments and ways of presentation (the lei) that enforces the power of these objects, because it startles us into thinking about the flowers differently.”
About the Artist:
Niki Hastings-McFall graduated with a Diploma in Visual Arts and a Certificate in Contemporary Jewellery from the Manukau Institute of Technology in 1994. It wasn’t until 1992 that she reconnected with her father’s Samoan family, and since that point her work has explored her personal heritage. Her work is represented in New Zealand (including the Dowse Art Museum, Auckland Museum and Te Papa), Australian and American art collections.
