Mäori Visual Culture On The Run

This paper proposes a discursive rewriting of “art” as visual culture in context of New Zealand education. It positions Mäori knowledge alongside the paradigms of mainstream Western knowledge. The strategy of establishing a Mäori-centric curriculum discussed in this paper comes from the Tertiary Education Commission policy directions for tertiary sector institutions, with its focus on addressing Mäori management and delivery, Mäori knowledge and ways of learning, and Mäori advancement and aspirations. Proposing visual culture as “culture on the run” (Spivak), the discussion is concerned to reveal codes of practice that are essentialist and must be contested. It seeks a radical change in education, and in particular art education, and proposes ways by which this might be achieved.