The collaboration built on an artistic relationship that had been highly significant to Tuffery since Bottled Ocean, and one that the artist often makes reference to. His life was organic, a people collector, he simply listened and responded to the fabric of culture and society through art. His creative and conceptual thinking was well ahead of its time.
For both Tuffery and Vivieaere it was vitally important to connect their work to the local indigenous Taiwanese community. Getting to know several artists from that community during their stay in Taiwan, Tuffery and Vivieaere discovered creative and personal links, underscored by a finely honed understanding of the complexity of colonisation. On his return visits Tuffery was particularly struck by the tradition of tattooing, once a highly valued custom for some indigenous tribes but now severely limited and often controversial in its usage.
Returning to Taiwan in to present the work Siamani Samoa or German Samoa at the inaugural Pulima Art Festival, Tuffery again emphasised the connection between a Polynesian experience of colonisation and experiences of the indigenous Taiwanese population. Perhaps the largest work Tuffery has presented to date is the multimedia project First Contact, commissioned for the Wellington International Arts Festival in Sampling material from the art, scientific, anthropological and social history departments, the work cut across institutional silos.
Presented literally against the backdrop of a museum that has often been publicly criticised for a lack of accessibility to the bulk of its collections, the work was particularly cutting in its activation. First Contact drew an extraordinary number of viewers to the site, many of them unlikely to be regular museum visitors.
Creating Conversations, the work of Michel Tuffery. Emma Bugden. The Language of Drawing: the artist as mark maker. The Raging of the Bulls: the artist as performer. The Machiavelli of Tahiti: the artist as archivist. Bamboo Forests: the artist in Taiwan. Bringing into the light: the artist as curator.
Michel Tuffery, b. Confronting Captain Cook: Memorialisation in museums and public spaces; this free online course was developed by the National Maritime Museum Greenwich in London. Solander Gallery, Wellington, 9 February — 9 March Siamani Samoa, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia. From Samoa with Love? Samoan Travellers in Germany, Siamani Samoa Stage 1 Samoa.
Exhibition history prior to available by request. Auckland City Council, Auckland. New Zealand Post, Wellington. Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira.
Christchurch City Council Christchurch. Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Wellington. Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wellington. Tuffery draws on his Pacific Island heritage in his art practise. Visiting the Pacific Islands has helped Tuffery understand and value his Pacific heritage. What turned me around was going to Samoa. But being born in New Zealand, that separation really makes it hard for us here to understand.
In Tuffery was invited to participate in the Tokyo International Print Show where he won second prize. In the same year he took part in the Asia Pacific Triennial, at Queensland Art Gallery, which purchased one of his sculptures. He is possibly most widely known for his corned beef tin cattle — steers made from tin cans riveted together — which comment on the impact of an imported commodity on the economy and cultural practices of small, island societies.
Was awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit in Bibliography Pataka Museum and Gallery , Porirua N. Museum number ,
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