Te Tiriti - The Treaty, a bicultural conversation

Artist Statement

"Josephine's Mother" + "A 21st Century Feminist" are about looking at things bi-culturally.

The pose and composition of "Josephine's Mother" is similar to the 1871 painting "Whistler's Mother." In this case, Josephine is the child the young woman is carrying. The mother looks alert and details such as a watch and the wall plug indicate that hers is a contemporary world, although she wears traditional Dutch clothing.

In the Netherlands today, such clothing is seen as a sign of conservatism because it is the daily attire of a few conservative religious villages. Josephine's mother told me that while she was in Aotearoa | New Zealand she noticed that people were more curious and more willing to approach her than in the Netherlands, where the clothing is a barrier. So "Josephine's Mother" is a contemporary portrait of a young woman, whose outer appearance is read in two strongly contrasting ways in Aotearoa | New Zealand, and in the Netherlands.

The titles point to a feminist perspective being like an alternate cultural perspective.