Lecture examines climate change using Mātauranga Māori art and design
The guest speaker is Dr Huhana Smith (Ngāti Tukorehe/ Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga), who is Associate Professor and Head of Massey University’s School of Art, Whiti o Rehua at Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts.
In her lecture, The resilience values of Mātauranga Māori: addressing climate change impacts through art and design on coastal farming, Dr Smith will examine the use of art and design as a bridge between Māori knowledge systems and traditional science.
Dr Smith is a visual artist, a curator of exhibitions (she was Senior Curator Māori at Te Papa from 2003-2009) and currently a principal investigator in major hapū-led, government-funded research collaborations with landscape architects, environmentalists, ecological economists and scientists.
“Our research collaborations with iwi and hapū have enabled us to discover Māori methods that encourage adaptation of housing, agriculture and ecosystems, in order to generate beneficial new relationships within an enhanced ecological environment,” says Dr Smith.
“Art and design’s visual methods are not only tools for representation, but also tools for supplementing Mātauranga Māori methods,” she says. “They all combine as research techniques to generate solutions to complex issues, and then make those solutions more accessible to local communities.”
Dr Smith has been involved in a number of environmental and kaitiakitanga (guardianship and protection of the environment) research projects investigating the complexities of freshwater decline within Māori water and land holdings, and related impacts on biodiversity. Most recently, her research has focused on climate change issues for coastal regions in Horowhenua and Kāpiti.
This free public lecture recognises the legacy of the late Dr Michael Volkerling. Dr Volkerling was founding director of the Museum and Heritage Studies programme at Victoria University, an executive director of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and director of the Arts Council (now Creative New Zealand). He made a huge contribution to the arts, culture and heritage in New Zealand over a 30-year period.
What: Dr Michael Volkerling Memorial Lecture: The resilience values of Mātauranga Māori: addressing climate change impacts through art and design on coastal farming
When: Thursday 26 October 2017, 5:30-7pm
Where: Rongomaraeroa, Te Papa Tongarewa (no RSVP required)