Speech
16th Annual Wallace Art Awards
I greet you in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.
Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening and sun has gone down (Sign)
May I specifically greet you: James Wallace, Trust Director; the Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister of Arts, Culture & Heritage; Your Worship Dick Hubbard, Mayor of Auckland and Mrs Diana Hubbard, and Your Worship Bob Harvey, Mayor of Waitakere, and Mrs Barbara Harvey; my predecessor Dame Catherine Tizard; Award judges and distinguished guests otherwise, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and me to attend the 16th Annual Wallace Art Awards Opening and for asking me to present the Awards.
Since the establishment James Wallace Arts Trust 17 years ago, and the Annual Wallace Art Awards 16 years ago, both the trust and its collection, and the awards, have an earned a high standing in New Zealand's art scene.
While the intention in establishing the Trust was to assist emerging artists through patronage and promotion, with more than 4,000 works in its collection, it is now a cultural resource for all New Zealanders, both for today's generation and for the future.
Many museums and galleries, due to the limitations of viewing space, can often only display a tiny fraction of their collection. I am advised that the Trust, by making its works available to 28 institutions, ranging from universities and science research establishments to hospitals, is working to ensure a wide audience can view its collection.
Running in parallel, the awards are now the longest surviving and most endowed annual art awards of their kind in Australasia, worth more than $58,000 a year. The Paramount and Development awards in particular allow the winners to participate in international residencies where they can concentrate on their art, unencumbered by financial concerns and the distractions of daily life in New Zealand. Such residencies also allow the winners to make contact with artists from around the world and in doing so, bring back with them valuable insights. The stature of the awards is such that those who have won them are now highly regarded members of New Zealand's artistic community.
These achievements are in no small part due to the vision and generosity of James Wallace, who not only supports this Trust, but also a host of other artistic and cultural endeavours as patron and benefactor. One of New Zealand's most well known philanthropists, the late Sir Roy McKenzie, once said that the giving away of money calls for more skill and judgment than the making of it. While Mr Wallace's philanthropy has been in a different arena, he has shown no less skill and enthusiasm in ensuring that the organisations and events he supports are of the highest quality.
The value of that contribution cannot be discounted. Art and artists—whether they are writers, dancers, actors, singers, painters, sculptors or many others—play a significant role in our society. Sometimes they make us laugh, sometimes they make us cry and sometimes they make us angry by challenging our beliefs. By providing a window into the soul, art and artists force us, both as individuals and as members of communities, to reflect on what we hold to be true and to better understand who we are.
For a small country of just 4.2 million people, New Zealand is blessed with not only a lively artistic and cultural sector, but also a strong cultural heritage. That ancestry begins with New Zealand's Maori heritage in carving, dance and other art forms. Those art forms have continued to develop in a symbiotic relationship with non-Maori art forms. A fine example was the Ihi FrENZy production by the Royal NZ Ballet a few years ago that combined the music of Splitz Enz with classical ballet forms and the work of a Maori performance group.
New Zealand art has not been isolated by the worldwide changes as new movements have challenged the established forms. But as those new styles and techniques have taken root here, they have developed in their own distinctive New Zealand way. So while Rita Angus, Colin McCahon and Don Binney are credited with introducing modern styles to New Zealand art, what eventuated is a body of work that draws its inspiration from this country's unique landscape, people and history.
And as New Zealand becomes more culturally and ethnically diverse, the art forms of our nation's latest migrants are also adding to that mix. The influences of more recent migrants from Polynesia, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, are increasingly evident in New Zealand art. Next week, for example, Susan and I will attend a fundraising performance by the Cantonese Opera Society of New Zealand. So highly regarded are these shows that the previous three fundraisers have raised almost $100,000 for health-based charities in west Auckland.
New Zealand has also contributed much to art and culture internationally. From the movies and special effects of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Richard Taylor to the kinetic sculptures and film work of Len Lye to the art of Colin McCahon, to name just a few, this nation has clearly "punched above its weight."
That New Zealand art is in good heart can be seen in the standard of work that will be on display in the exhibitions here in the Aotea Centre and James Wallace Arts Trust Gallery and at TheNewDowse in Wellington. From 436 entries, some 116 finalists have been chosen. While not everyone can be a winner, everyone whose work has been shown for public display should be rightfully proud.
It therefore gives me great pleasure to be able to present the Annual Wallace Art Awards tonight. I am sure that the winners of these prizes will continue to set the high standard of those who have gone before them.
Before we begin the presentation of the awards, I will formally close by speaking in Maori issuing greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.