Julie Adams
SRU PhD 2006
Research Interests
Contemporary Maori art; Aotearoa New Zealand & Australian history; postcolonial theory; museology; Pacific arts & literature; visual anthropology.
PhD thesis
My thesis examined the enduring presence of cloaks in Maori culture. It began by detailing the cultural importance of woven cloaks in pre-contact Aotearoa New Zealand, and followed their historical transition into a major icon of contemporary Maori life. The cloak's recent transformation into the subject of large scale sculptural installations, paintings and woven artworks is analysed through specific case studies of three Maori artists working in Aotearoa New Zealand today.