Relishing the Splendour - limited edition screen print by Dagmar Dyck
2021
Screen print (edition 4/25)
950mm x 650mm
Framed
Relishing the Splendour is part of a body of work by Dagmar Dyck created for 'Amui' i Mu'a: Ancient Futures project.
Mata Me'a Fo'oua - Seeing New Things
Ten colour hand stencilled limited edition screen prints were produced specifically to commemorate my participation in the āAmui āi Muāa: Ancient Futures project. For the last five years I have been part of a Marsden project, Ancient Futures: Late 18th and Early 19th Century Tongan Arts and Their Legacies, funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Our team has examined art objects of exchange and encounters between Europeans and Tongan islanders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, now held in museum collections worldwide. We have visited more than 30 collections in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Australia and Aotearoa.
āKnown for her dynamic prints and paintings that often draw from the kupesi on ngatu, Dyck has drawn new, significant inspiration from the garments worn by her ancestors. Dyck has continued her exploration of ngatu barkcloth motifs and closely woven kato alu and kato mosikaka baskets, as well as elaborately feathered sisi fale waist garments and kiekie (waist adornments), fala (mats), and helu (combs). Her works explicate these in woven, painted and stratified formats. With her skillfulness in printmaking, Dyck has created a series of limited edition screen prints intricately layered with historical and contemporary references.ā1
As a first generation New Zealander, I was brought up to respect and acknowledge my unique ancestry. Growing up on the North Shore with immigrant parents (my father is German/Dutch and Polish and my mother is Tongan/German) I learned from an early age an appreciation of custom and tradition. Translating and galvanising this traditional and ancestral knowledge is a high priority for me.
There is no escaping the way in which patterns are woven throughout the stories of the Pacific, whether the patterns that appear are bound, knotted, wrapped, plaited, stamped or rubbed using natural and local plant resources, they are simply an essential thread to each of our Pacific nationsā societal structures. The Kingdom of Tonga is no exception.
Tongan derived patterns of the past were produced with raw materials such as coconut palm and pandanus and found on all manner of artefacts within everyday life. Nowhere more exquisite are these patterns found than within the fibre and textile arts, known as ākoloaā, which are produced predominantly by women. These objects include ngatu, fala, kiekie and kato alu. These are the most prestigious material objects for the Tongan people.
The focus on the importance of women and their role in the production of everyday
household items and those that had a ceremonial status within a Tongan context are
critical aspects in honouring these artisans. As a result I have sought to investigate not only the objects that Tongan women have created but also the multiple meanings in which these objects are expressed or indeed gifted back within their communities. As noted by Graeme Were, āAge-old and everyday, threads are a fundamental constituent of social life, and their continued transformation into textiles, baskets, mats and fabrics speaks volumes about their centrality in sustaining cultural beliefs, values and identity in society today.ā
The notion that threads can potentially connect or unravel, to educate or celebrate, is also one that can initiate conversation with the wider public. āThreaded throughout my work is a visual process that documents the transformation of raw material to woven treasure. The work remains sectionalised as heritage proclaims, but the palette combines the energies and colours of a modern Moana landscape.ā
Fakaāapaāapa atu,
Dagmar Dyck
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