Robert Jahnke
Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1951
Ngāi Taharora,
Te Whānau a Iritekura,
Te Whānau a Rakairo o Ngāti Porou,
Māori
Right of Recreation
- 2005
- Polished stainless steel, kauri
- Purchased 2026
- 2026/099
Location: Dame Louise Henderson Gallery
Robert Jahnke’s sculptures often explore the impact of colonial systems, such as Christianity and the British Crown, on Māori culture and identity. His embossed stamps are like the seals of authority used to validate and authenticate legal documents. In Common Law Rights, Jahnke refers to Māori systems of law and leadership based on tikaka and whakapapa being replaced by a British legal system in the nineteenth century. The title Right of Recreation uses language from the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act, which says that the country's foreshore and seabed are owned by the Crown.
Jahnke made these works as a response to then-leader of the New Zealand National Party Don Brash’s 2004 ‘Orewa’ speech. Brash criticised government policies that aimed to reduce inequalities between Māori and non-Māori and expressed disdain for te Tiriti o Waitangi settlement processes.
tikaka custom, convention, protocol whakapapa genealogy, ancestry Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Treaty of Waitangi
