We cordially invite you to the first lecture in the ZADAN lecture series:
Neke Moa: Making taonga (treasures) with the Ātua (Gods)
In this lecture Neke Moa will give an overview of her art practice as an adornment and object maker. How her location and cultural identity as Māori (with Scottish ancestry) influences and informs her artwork, from processes of making, collecting, and selecting materials.
The stories embedded in her work are a continuing development of research and interest in the intersection of the physical and spiritual realms, the metaphysical properties of materials, and the political histories of Pounamu (NZ nephrite jade) from theft, cultural appropriation, and its eventual return to the Māori Ngai Tahu Iwi tribe.
Neke Moa is based in Ōtaki, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her work relates to themes of political and social commentary from an indigenous lens, cultural connectedness to land and self in the seen and unseen worlds. Moa has been a part of the Handshake Project since its inception in 2010, exhibiting in Munich, London, Thailand, Australia, Netherlands, and Aotearoa. She is a graduate of Te Wānanga-ō-Raukawa and Whitireia, New Zealand, majoring in Māori art and jewellery design. Moa has taught shell craft in Fiji and Tonga from 2016 until 2020 and continues to teach and learn as part of her art practice.
The lecture will be in English.
External project partner
Four Gallery, Gothenburg
Funding institutions
IASPIS / The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Photos above - Works by Neke Moa
- No title (2020), pendant, Pounamu, muka, fibre paint, 90mm x 150mm x 15mm
- Kuini (2020), pendant, paint plastic beads, 430mm x 100mm x30mm
- Nesian (2019), pendant, Ufi shell seeds 140mm x 40mm x 10mm
ZADAN lecture series: "Hopes and Protections on the Body"
The aim of ZADAN is to create a common platform, to broaden an understanding of jewellery art based on an exploration of a specific topic. The title ‘ZADAN’(座談) references the Japanese concept of a conversation among peers. With this in mind we welcome students and publics to participate as peers in the consideration of Jewellery Art as a ‘magical’ everyday practice and adornment.
For "Hopes and Protections on the Body" there will be six online lectures (October 2021 – March 2022) that include presentations in response to the topic from an artist, curator, sociologist, archeologist, and anthropologist.
