James K Baxter ‘The Maori Jesus’ (1966)
Six disciples are:
The Toilet Cleaner Cleans toilets and spends much time washing the effluent from his hands,
A Call Girl she probably worked for an Escort Agency. She gave her body away and sometimes got paid,
Housewife who forgot to take the pill and trashed the T.V.,
Office Clerk who organised paper work and tried to set fire to the Government buildings,
Sad old Quean a prostitute who had once been young, impudent and possibly badly behaved was now old and finished,
Alcoholic Priest suffering Korsakov’s Syndrome within the walls of strict religious practices.
There were 12 original disciples listed of which 7 were fisherman. The brothers, Peter and John, apart from fishing, ran a business in which they employed others. Simon the Canaanite was a Zealot (belonging to a religious sect). He attempted to arouse rebellion against the Roman Government. Matthew was a tax collector, a profession despised by the people in that time and finally Judas Iscariot whom Jesus made Treasurer of their group.
Baxter’s disciples, like those who joined Jesus were all ordinary people. The only difference being the era in which they are written about. The types of employment which existed in AD 27-29 are the same as those undertaken today.
The crimes committed in Maori Jesus are:
Sitting on the ground playing the guitar
Having long hair and beard
No lawful means of support
Undermining a Detective
Blaspheming a prison warder
Appearing delusional to the Psychiatrist.
Maori Jesus did not conform to the Pakeha norms of that period. Baxter has written from the working-class perspective and their collective treatment at the hands of a ‘foreign invader’. However, the class brutality described in ‘The Maori Jesus’ is not specific to New Zealand. Historically the British have been appropriating countries as their own. In the case of New Zealand this resulted in the transformation from an exclusively Māori world into a numerically Pakeha dominated world.
Change, on a scale not seen before in New Zealand occurred with the advent of WWI. Maori and Pakeha crossed the oceans to fight for the ‘Mother Land”. They fought together, died together and returned home together. The horror of that War brought about a mutual respect not visible prior to the War. A resurgence of Maori heritage (whakapapa) and cultural importance in New Zealand’s history is strongly supported by the Treaty of Waitangi and the Waitangi Tribunal.
Poetics – Image/Text
As art traditions, I listed : art; cartography; cartoons/comics; architecture; sculpture/carving, advertising/bill boards and web sites.
Art: Colin McCahon
In the 1960’s, McCahon started a series of black and white paintings combining numerals and text, stating that, , ‘the directness of words could help, provide a ‘way in’ to his images’.
In the mid-1960s, McCahon settled upon his mature style which consisted of the transcription of Biblical passages painted onto interpretations of images and their composition. Some of McCahon’s works use an abstracted feature of the New Zealand landscape.
Of his painting Jump, McCahon (1971) wrote: ‘that most of my work has been aimed at relating man to man to this world, to an acceptance of the very beautiful and terrible mysteries that we are part of. I aim at very direct statement and ask for a simple and direct response. Any other way the message gets lost’.
Hotere
“There are very few things I can say about my work that are better than saying nothing,” the artist said.
Simon Day and Charlie Gates, (Feb 25, 2013) wrote at the time of Hotere’s death, that ’he was a “warrior artist” whose provocative work portrayed some of the country’s most divisive historical events’.
In looking at Hotere’s work, I have difficulty in seeing the stories he brushed onto canvas, therefore finding it hard to pass comment on either his or McCahon’s use of image and text. Both artists have produced ‘a modern state’ of art which research assures me encompasses New Zealand’s colonisation and cultural assimilation.
Cartoons:
As early as the 1920’s, cartoonists have used images and text to deliver a public opinion on politics in New Zealand. Initially, cartoons were very detailed, accompanied by long captions, using symbols instantly recognisable as British. From the 1970’s, cartoons began to offer a wider social commentary delivering satirical humour as well as provoking public opinion. About the same time, a ‘new wave’ cartoon entitled ‘Love Is’ appeared in daily newspapers and was eventually syndicated world-wide. This simple, small cartoon presented readers with a daily feel-good, light-hearted dose of optimisms most would understand. The creator of this cartoon was a New Zealander, Kim Casali.
Comics:
Since the 1960’s, comics have been published providing a powerful medium of illustrated narrative of extraordinary scope. Images can be bright and colourful, dark and brooding, arresting and pleasant, all at the same time. The images are combined with text delivered in a speech balloon, with captions and onomatopoeia.
I have looked at and read two art traditions, being painting and cartoons
Cartoons and comics – neither can work independently of the other. Both cartoons and comics must have an image WITH related text or onomatopoeia.
In summary, I have looked at and read two art traditions, being painting and cartoons. I find it interesting that imagery combined with text has been with us for a long time and is now in a continuing revolution driven by a multi-billion dollar advertising industry leading to the more modern application in web sites. I have really enjoyed this question as it is an area of creativity I have never spent time on previously but has huge ramifications t this time through a multitude of mediums.
References
Comics: . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics
Kim Casali
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is. ..
Colin McCahon: . . https://courses.washington.edu/hypertxt/cgi-bin/book/wordsimages.html .