PhD Researcher: Nova Paul (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine)(AUT)
Primary supervisors: Associate Professor Albert L.Refiti (AUT)
Project summary:
Drawing on Nova’s experimental kaupapa Māori filmmaking and weaving in taonga tuku iho (knowledge passed down from tūpuna) and pūrākau this research will result in the creation of a Ngāpuhi-centric artist film. This practice-led research explores a Māori ontology of temporality in relationship to māuri, wairua, and hau in moving images. The research considers our whanaungatanga relationships and whakapapa connections to ngā rākau and ngāhere. This has led to the creation of a plant-based 16mm film developer, replacing the environmentally damaging Kodak D-76 chemicals. Creating films of rākau using plant-based film chemistry processes reveals an image of the rākau and the mauri (life force). Rather than continuing the extractive nature of Western photographic histories – taking an image – this co-creation between tree, human, and celluloid is a collaborative making of an image. These films are akin to an arboreal self-portrait, with trees speaking directly through an embodied medium. Driven by implementing Tino rangatiratanga mana motuhake (self-determinacy) to decolonise representation and privilege Indigenous processes centring Māori worldview in both the what and the how Nova films, Nova’s practice creates relationships with subjects that echo Māori values and ways of being.