BRETT GRAHAM

Born 1967 in Auckland, New Zealand. Lives and works in Auckland.

Brett Graham, Te Hokioi, 2008, MDF, fibreglass, steel, car lacquer, wheels, 80 x 290 x 440 cm. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Patrons of the Gallery, 2009. Photograph: Jennifer French

Sculptor Brett Graham, from the Ngati Koroki sub-tribe of Tainui, is a prominent contemporary artist in New Zealand who completed a Doctorate of Fine Arts at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2005. He explores complex historical, political and cultural ideas through his practice, transforming them into compelling artistic statements, often witty and ironic. He works on large-scale projects in varied materials, which has resulted in many large public commissions in New Zealand.

Graham’s work has a basis in stone and wood, connecting him to the great tradition of Māori carvers. In 1991, he trained with Japanese sculptor Atsuo Okamoto to further his practice in stone carving. Mindful of the theoretical position implied in each of his works, Graham seeks to explore the nature of Pacific history and identity as was evident in his exhibition, ‘1492–1642’ (1992), created in response to the anniversary celebrations of the European ‘discovery’ of the Americas and New Zealand. He commonly uses bird, tree and flower forms, expressing his anxiety for the natural world as well as its vital role in the lives of indigenous people. Graham regards his cast iron sculpture Foreshore Defender (2004) as a gesture to protect what is left of indigenous land; inscribed with kowhaiwhai designs, this non-traditional and militaristic representation of a flying fox delivers a defiant statement on behalf of Pacific peoples.

Along with a strong focus on materiality and surface, Graham’s sculptural works consciously combine elements from Māori heritage and European histories, while adhering to a modernist emphasis on form and material quality. His solo exhibition ‘Campaign Rooms’ (2008) commented on the anti-terror raids conducted in 2007 in the town of Ruatoki – the centre of the Tūhoe separatist movement. As a representation of postcolonial fear of the ‘Other’, he inscribed Arabic, Māori and Pacific Islander symbols and patterns on sculpted weapons of mass destruction. These works reflected on the irresponsible and oppressive actions of authority when it makes racial suppositions and simplifications in the ‘fight against terrorism’.
In recent years, Graham has explored new technologies in his work. The successful Aniwaniwa (2007), created in collaboration with Rachael Rakena, was exhibited in the 52nd Venice Biennale. This sculptural, video and sound installation is an arresting depiction of the 1947 flooding of the New Zealand village of Horahora, as part of a hydro-electric scheme. Viewers of the work were encouraged to lie on mattresses underneath five pod-like convex screens suspended from the ceiling. Surrounded by speakers, the viewers became immersed in the sounds of contemporary Māori singers Whirimako Black and Deborah Wai Kapohe, turbines and other accompanying sounds as they watched eerie images of figures going about their daily lives – a woman trying to light a fire, a man digging in his garden – all the while submerged by water. The piece is an innovative and powerful metaphor for cultural loss.

For the 17th Biennale of Sydney, Graham will show his versions of western ‘weapons of mass destruction’, such as a Stealth Bomber with its identity reformed by carved Māori symbols (Te Hokioi, 2008), as well as a new work: a near full-scale Russian BRDM -2 scout car treated in the same way (Mihaia, 2010). The work will reflect negatively on the continued irresponsible linkage of Māori, and by extension other so-called minorities, to ideas of terror and subversion across the world, as well as more positively on the transformative and long-lasting power of traditional culture.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2009 ‘Rukuhia’, Bartley Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2009 ‘Aniwaniwa’, Rosny Barn, Hobart, Australia
2008 ‘Campaign Rooms’, Two Rooms, Auckland, New Zealand
2008 ‘Aniwaniwa’, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand
2008 ‘Aniwaniwa’, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Selected Group Exhibitions

2009 ‘Maui Dynasty’, The Suter, Nelson, New Zealand
2007 ‘Making Worlds’, 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2007 ‘Restless’, Moving Image Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
2007 ‘Telecom Prospect 2007’, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
2006 ‘The Arrival’, Two Rooms, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected Bibliography

Lucy Barker, ‘What Lies Beneath’, Urbis Landscape, issue 5, August–October, Auckland, 2005, pp. 88–90
Peter Brunt, Zones of Contact, exhibition catalogue, Biennale of Sydney, 2006, p. 122
Peter Brunt, ‘Kainga Tahi Kainga Rua: New Work on Banaba’, The Contemporary Pacific Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, Honolulu, 2004, pp. 429–34
Ngahiraka Mason and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, Brett Graham: Moengaroa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, 2002
Lilly Wei, ‘Remapping the Art World’, Art in America, vol. 95, issue 3, March 2007, pp. 58–65