Monday 22 March 2010

Kiri Wai Inner Skin

Kiri Wai is about mokos. About their history, what they mean to Maori, what they mean to Westerners, have they been denigrated or is this culture preservation? (Not sure that last question is decently answered.)

It's a very casual documentary, lots of general shots of New Zealand and artsy moving around of images on screen that don't really help with the story telling, speaking more to the... "development" of Bruce Gigilo as a director.

Interestingly, although the moko is about whakapapa, geneology, connection with the land and the culture... no-one actually says what it means or how it is derived. Do the swirls have a specific meaning? Or are they just patterns that the artist "feel" are right? (Given that different artists have different results, this is definitely more "art" than "science".) I'd like to see some discussion of what mokos mean in detail, not just the abstract.

This could be tightened up, and, aside from above, covers all the bases you want to know about the moko.

[END]

No comments: