「台東縣原住民文創聚落藝術家駐村創作策展」Greg Semu

/ 駐村藝術家 /

1971 年生，紐西蘭奧克蘭。
自學攝影師，獨立原住民研究者、藝術家、策展人。
2010 年起定居澳洲雪梨。

太平洋地區的文化取代（Cultural Displacement）一直貫穿他的作品。社區的參與和研究是他的攝影藝術作品的一大出發點。同時，他的攝影作品包含藝術家自己的自畫像和 Samoan Va——隔開（並非分離）聯合在一起的民族的巨大海洋。Semu 運用攝影和電影的視覺語言來探討身份的意義，同時開創能喚起人們思考的對話，挑戰被浪漫化的殖民者第一次接觸原住民的記錄。Semu 以原住民的角度在他的作品中展現了真實和事實，重新審視歷史和藝術史上的重要時刻，和觀眾一起挑戰先入為主的歷史定義。

Semu is largely self-taught as an artist and film-maker. In 1994 Semu was included in the landmark exhibition Bottled Ocean (1994), curated by Jim Vivieaere. His work for Bottled Ocean was a graffiti-inspired corrugated iron work that reflected on the 'gritty realities of Pacific communities living in suburban Auckland'. In 1994 Semu also directed the music video for New Zealand hip hop group Sisters Underground's classic song ‘In the Neighbourhood’.

In 2007 Semu was invited to be the inaugural artist in residence at the newly opened Musée du Quai Branly. The museum invited Semu to respond to a piece of advertising collateral, the 'Bonded by Blood' poster, which had been gifted to Quai Branly, to commemorate the All Black’s 2006 tour of France and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The 'Bonded by Blood' poster depicts the All Blacks performing their signature haka 'Ka Mate Ka Mate' in a rain forest setting with ancestral Māori figures silhouetted in the foliage. In what curator Reuben Friend describes as "an act of subversion", the photographs Semu produced show "fictitious scenes of Māori ‘warriors’ engaged in battle, seemingly celebrating the fighting spirit of Māori while addressing the objectionable stereotypes of Pacific people as 'primitive' and 'savage'." The series, titled The Battle of the Noble Savage, has been shown at a number of galleries, including City Gallery Wellington and Te Manawa in New Zealand.

Semu has also worked as a commercial photographer. In 2010 he took portraits of New Zealand-born Polynesian rugby league players for a calendar produced by the Casula Powerhouse as a fundraiser and community outreach project for the Pasifika community.

In 2012 Semu placed an archive of his negatives, proof sheets and film reels, diaries and ephemera, and examples of his commercial work, on long-term loan to the Auckland Art Gallery.

In 2016 Semu's exhibition The Raft of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific) will be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria. Part of his ongoing exploration of the colonisation and Christianisation of the Pacific, these works also reference the genre of European history paintings from this period. In them Semu works with indigenous actors in the Cook Islands to re-stage and photograph two important 19th century paintings: Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa (1819) and Louis John Steele and Charles F Goldie’s The Arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand (1898).

經歷及參展經驗

2007 Artist in residence, Musée du Quai Branly
2008 Artist in residence, Unitec Institute of Technology
2009 Artist in residence, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
2010 Artist residency, Tjibaou Cultural Centre
2011 Artist residency, Elcho Islands Arts Centre, Elcho Island, Northern Territory, Australia
2014 Resident artist at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia; Creative New Zealand Visual Arts Residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin

本次駐村創作

紅外套 + 印地安人：我們玩的遊戲
RED COATS + INDIANS : The Games We Play

此命名係根據「牛仔+印地安人」這個常出現在好萊塢電影的題材以及孩童之間玩的遊戲。名稱乍看之下只是單純的角色扮演遊戲，而藝術家 Semu 以遊戲的風格、吸引力和兒童的天真無邪作為切入點，深刻探討遊戲之中更黑暗的動機，以及灌輸殖民統治的潛藏意圖。

「紅外套」的服裝鋪展出第二層敘事，指涉庫克船長 (Captain James Cook) 發現澳洲大陸、澳洲成為大英帝國殖民地的時期，此刻亦恰逢澳洲聯邦歡慶庫克船長登陸 250 週年，然而庫克船長光榮地發現「新世界」、把新世界劃入帝國版圖之舉，是否真值得慶祝？無論在全球上或歷史上，這都是帶有歌劇色彩的虛構敘事命題。這次默劇中，我們重現了悲劇性的庫克船長之死，並翻轉陳腔濫調的敘事，安排野蠻的印第安人奮起反抗，讓印地安人在戰爭中獲勝，成功保護印地安人的土地、文化和主權，為後代子孫守護未來。

作品的創作方面，Semu 同樣找來世界各地的原住民族及社群攜手合作，聘請原住民身分的演員、舞者、表演者和創作者，共同進行攝影藝術計畫，讓原住民人才能夠在專業上和個人上累積新的歷練。Semu 認同台灣的原住民族、原住民部落和原住民族群，對於他們的貢獻及參與，Semu 深感榮幸並衷心感謝。

Based on the Hollywood themed and children’s game “Cowboys + Indians” Semu takes what at first glance appears to be a simple game of role play and examines its darker motives and insidious agenda of inserting colonial dominance through style, glamour and the innocence of children.

A second narrative is at play through the costumes of the Red Coats referencing the colonial period of Captain Cook as the British colonies of the Common Wealth who are currently celebrating 250 years of Captain James Cook’s glorious discovery and charting of the ‘new world’ ? A fictitious narrative of operatic proportions, globally and historically.

In this pantomime we reenact the tragic Death of Captain Cook and reverse the cliché d narrative where the savage Indians rise up and saves the day by winning the game and protecting their lands, their culture and their sovereignty for the future of their people.

In this body of work Semu continues to work with indigenous peoples and communities around the world by employing indigenous actors, dancers, performers and fellow creatives to collaborate on photographic artistic projects exposing them to new experiences both professionally and personally.

Semu acknowledges the Indigenous Taiwanese and Formosans tribes and the Ethnic groups of Taiwan and is honoured and grateful for their contribution and participation.