As much as Whakapapa: get down upon your knees is about New Zealand and Paterson’s roots, it could also be about the appropriation of international design as the red/black/white panel was inspired by the Italian fashion house, Pucci, which he discovered while travelling to Pescara, Italy. Paterson stripped the design back and ‘korufied’ (his word) it. In doing so he challenges its identity and originality.
The design aspect is as fundamental to the painting, as the subject matter. Whakapapa is about lineage and Paterson’s painting is dependent on line, and strong decisive ones at that. Each line calls on an aspect of Paterson’s past, for instance, he explains:
…the black kowhaiwhai pattern is called Puhoro. It is found on the waka (canoe) which links directly to whakapapa in that they brought our ancestors to Aotearoa. (Email correspondence to Maud Burge, Queensland Art Gallery, 13 October 2009).
Perhaps the only specific ference between Paterson’s current practice and the making of art in the traditional Maori context is that he works as an individual, not collectively. Thus, Whakapapa: get down on your knees can be appreciated on many levels, whether simply appreciating the balletic kaleidoscope of pattern or exploring the meaning and respect for whakapapa. Whakapapa: get down on your knees is far from being simply decorative, it speaks volumes about family ties and overtly suggests, the importance of not forgetting one’s own whakapapa, reminding us all of our ancestry, where we come from and who we are. As Paterson remarks, “I honour and appreciate history … in an unconventional way.”
Written by Penelope Jackson, Director, Tauranga Art Gallery