 | For Maori, early contact with Europeans “constituted in an exotic vision of unrecognisable people and incomprehensible technologies”. (1) For Rebecca Harris, "It is this brief moment in New Zealand history, the beginning of widespread contact between Maori and Pakeha that has acted as a springboard.”(2)
Harris’s pieces are three dimensional, painted plaster or etched and carved ceramic surfaces. The resulting works resemble Victorian portrait photographs. Her convex wall hangings are a humorous exploration of the issues that arose during European colonisation of New Zealand. “Many transported all the trappings of British civilisation into this strange land and the resulting incongruities at first must have bewildered and amused tangata whenua” (3)
Harris’s work is concerned with the timelessness of the human condition. The concepts of adaptation and acculturation in NZ are relevant to both early settlers and contemporary society.
Like a game or puzzle, Harris constructs a language of tangled riddles for the viewer to decode. She has a unique symbolic vocabulary, “a peculiar surreal combination that is all her own.” (3) These ornately framed works transpose traditional Victorian portraiture and landscape with images from a diverse range of genres and historical periods to create amusing and often disconcerting compositions.
Rebecca Harris graduated from Christchurch Polytechnic with a diploma in Craft & Design in 1994 and a degree in Art & Design in 2000. She has exhibited throughout New Zealand and Australia and has been a finalist in a number of awards including the Portage Ceramic Awards 2002 & 2004 and CoCA’s Anthony Harper Award 2009. Harris’ works are included in public and private collections both nationally and internationally. She has two works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Collection, Paris Embassy.
(1) Michael King, The Penguin History of New Zealand
(2) Rebecca Harris, Artist Statement 2005
(3) Ibid
(3) T.J. McNamara, “Invented work in exalted company”, NZ Herald, 30/08/06
| |
