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New Zealand: Auckland – Guerrilla Girls Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi oTamaki

In 1984 an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC was an International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Of the 165 important paintings and sculptures mentioned, only 15 were created by women. The furor of this inequity started the Guerilla Girls movement to end gender and racial discrimination in museums everywhere . They created defiant and humorous pamphlets, videos, books and posters shown around the world. This call to action was to erase the double standard.

New Zealand: Auckland – Guerrilla Girls Exhibit at Auckland Art Gallery Toi oTamaki

Founded in New York City in 1985, the Guerilla Girls movement has been challenging feminine bias in art, politics, film, and pop culture since then. The catalyst was a 1984 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC which was an International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. Of the 165 important paintings and sculptures mentioned, only 15 were created by women. The furor of this inequity started the Guerilla Girls movement of defiant and humorous pamphlets, videos, books posters, posted around the world. They had had enough of gender and racial discrimination in museums everywhere. This call to action was to erase the double standard. It took the US film industry’s  Academy Awards community until 2018 to get to the same place.

New Zealand: Auckland – Photo of Tattoo Artist (Tohunga) at work

Tohunga or tattoo artists are still at work in New Zealand creating the symbolic intricate body tattoos for the Maori people. You can see these photos in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki’s Living Portrait gallery.

New Zealand: Auckland – To-hunga-ta-moto: Tattoo Artists at Work

Found this painting of tattooing, the most interesting of Gottfried Lindauer’s paintings in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki’s Living Portrait gallery. Only the most important tattoo artists (Tohunga) are allowed to create and maintain the integrity of the facial tattoo art form. This work is being done on a porch while a young tribal leader lies on a whariki, a special mat allowed for those high rank. His head rests on lap of the Tohunga while his hands are clenched in obvious discomfort. The other gentleman is also a Tohunga and he is chanting rituals for a safe and successful completion of  the pawaha, the creation of the important tatooed facial lines.

New Zealand: Auckland – Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki Living Portrait

One of the most visited part of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki is the area showing the living portraits or Mata Raurangi of Maori tribal leaders by Gottfried Lindauer. This one of Wi Te Manewha sports an authentic bird feathered shirt. Lindauer, a late 19th early 20th century portrait painter did many portraits of the tribal leaders found in this gallery.

New Zealand: Auckland – Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

So many of New Zealand’s famous names are unknown in North America. In 1919, the centennial year of artist Colin McCahon’s birth, a huge exhibit of many of his creations was set up in the Auckland Art Gallery. This is one of McCahon’s earlier paintings titled “The first Waterfall” which was painted in 1964. McCahon was a driving force for art in NZ; He helped run the Auckland CityArt gallery, installed exhibitions, taught art classes and painted too. 

 

New Zealand: Auckland Domain – Auckland War Museum

In the stately columned Auckland War Museum, you can discover the world’s largest collection of Maori and Polynesian artifacts. Sitting impressively in the center is a large ornately carved Hotunui meetinghouse from 1878 and a Waka (war canoe), Te Toki-a-Tapiri from 1836. They’re heart and soul of the museum, yet there’s lots more.

US: Seattle, WA – Hammering Man Statue in Seattle

About a dozen Hammering Man statues can be found around the world. This is the one we found in Seattle, WA. Jonathan Borofsky designed these huge kinetic sculptures as a silhouette a man who has a motorized arm and hammer. In each city they are different sizes but always painted black; They symbolize and celebrate workers all over the world.

US: Seattle, WA – What is a Video Game?

Not surprising as it is in Seattle, Wa, at the Museum of Pop Culture there is a section relating to the development of video games. Walk through this doorway and you can play some.

US: Seattle, WA – Walking Dead Heads

In the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame at MoPop in Seattle, you can oogle the heads used in the Walking Dead film.