Bi-cultural totem pole

Tu Tangata, Issue 25, 1 August 1985, Page 26

Bi-cultural totem pole

Abi-cultural totem pole has been carved and painted in Nevada, USA by Te Atu Nepia Clamp and an American Indian... Ramon Murillo.

For Te Atu it was the culmination of an idea he had more than a year ago, to bridge the cultures of New Zealand and America through art, the living history of people.

The way to the successful linking of the two cultures was slow with many acknowledgements to the American Indian beliefs and tradition as well as Maori tradition.

However Te Atu believes the people of Pyramid Lake Paiute reservation were aware of the significance of the totem and of the links now forged. So much so that Te Atu is now pushing ahead with the idea of a reciprocal exchange for both American and Canadian Indian artists to work at their art in New Zealand.

And part of this exchange is the building of a native art centre in this country where artists from different cultures can work at telling their own history in their artform, instead of just satisfying the tourist market. Te Atu talked with Tu Tangata about how he went about the carving at Pyramid Lake.

He says the Paiute tribe are not carvers and so the wood for the totem pole, a fifteen foot cedar, had to be brought in from outside from California. And a painter was bought in on the project in the absence of a sculptor. Te Atu says he was able to show the people photographs of carvings he’d done in New Zealand and they were intrigued with the idea and wanted to know more.

Permission was asked of the tribal elders to do a totem pole and it was decided to depict the formation of the Pyramid Lake by the Stone Mother. The story told was of a mother who shed tears over the feuding of her sons who were despatched to the four winds. Her tears formed the lake. Te Atu says he shared a sweat ceremony with the Indian artist Ramon once a week to seek guidance with the totem pole. They both exchanged knowledge about their cultural backgrounds and found a lot in common. For instance the Earthmother and the four winds and other spiritual beliefs were common to Maori and Indian. The people left them both alone during the carving in what Te Atu describes as ‘quiet respect’. However at the unveiling by a respected kuia. the tribe seemed truly awed by the completed totem pole which told their history across two cultures.

The totem had much deeper significance for the Indian painter, Ramon. His tribe was Bannock Shoshone from Idaho, one of the tribes descended from the Stone Mother’s sons.

Te Atu says in his own way Ramon returned home giving life to the totem pole. Another high point in America was Te Atu’s attendance at ‘stomp dances’, dances performed by clans to thank the Great Spirit for a successful corn harvest the previous year. Te Atu says the dance goes on all day with the most serious part being from midnight til dawn. The ceremony is overseen by the Chief, the Tongue, who speaks for the Chief, the Medicine Man and the Firekeeper. Te Atu’s travels took him to visit other Indian tribes and he went to the Five Nations conference with Chief Milam of the Seminole Nation.

Te Atu says the Indian people have suffered a great deal at the hands of the European settlers and they are suspicious of non-Indians wanting to find out about their culture. However in his case, his artists’ skills broke down the barriers quicker.

Towards the end of his travels he was invited to the World Symposium of Arts in Banff, Alberta, Canada, representing New Zealand along with Keri

Hulme. The theme was how artists can effect change in a crises stricken world. Te Atu says the artists realised their art has to make overt or covert political and educational statements. It was after this symposium that Te Atu met a Canadian Indian carver, Joe David who had been married to a Maori woman. Joe had carved an impressive totem pole in protest against proposed logging on Meares Island, Canada.

Te Atu hopes to bring Joe to New Zealand along with Ramon so that further cross cultural sharing can take place. And Te Atu has strong words to say about Maori art and artists.

He says people should be able to understand what the artist is portraying and so should the artist. Of European artists working in a Maori medium he says: “I don’t think they’ll ever (completely) understand the medium that they’re workng in, the spiritual content or the subject. They may be able to do some very pretty patterns and some lovely pieces of work, but the whole historical and indigenous relevance for doing that work, I don't think they can have that, because they don’t have the indigenous spirit born into them personally.”

And Te Atu says Maori artists who do works outside of the traditional medium also leave themselves open to criticism. Most times, he says, it’s incidental that they are Maori, and the works reflect this. Sometimes the work is a personal reaction against a frustration and owes little to w'hakapapa or telling a history of a people.

Te Atu believes artists who represent Aotearoa should be Maori people

conveying the culture of their people in their art.

Tu Tangata asked Te Atu if there was confusion over what Maori art was. “Yes there is some confusion because of pakeha influence and lifestyle. Individualistic art cuts across cultural barriers and reflects a personal view. Both Maori and pakeha artists work in this field.

But Maori art is an indigenous one and carries the culture of a people who can understand what is being said in the art. I’m not against innovation, what Ramon and I did with the totem pole was new for both of us, but it was intelligible to the people it now stands amongst. That can’t be said for a lot of what passes for maori art today.”

And Te Atu believes this confusion is further spread by the ignorance of big business’s such as Air New Zealand. “Personally I think Air New Zeaalnd need a lot of educating when you consider they give you a plastic tiki to stir your cocktails with. It doesn't show much respect for the Maori people considering the spiritual representation of the tiki.

“We’ve a long way to go in educating New Zealanders about the spiritual significance of Maori art.”