The critically acclaimed film gives a visually sumptuous, sometimes shocking glimpse behind Toi T\u016b Toi Ora: Contemporary M\u0101ori Art, the largest M\u0101ori art exhibition staged in Aotearoa at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T\u0101maki in 2020. Winstanley was given full access to film everything from intimate moments of creation by artists to raw Zoom meetings that reveal mounting tensions and eventually the resignation of Borell, the exhibition\u2019s curator and M\u0101ori artist.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Winstanley at the TOITU: Visual Sovereignty documentary screening at the Auckland Art Gallery and auction event. Photo \/ David St George<\/p>\n
Sitting in her Grey Lynn home, backed by a colourful wall of artworks, some by artists featured in her film, Winstanley reflects on whether she was the only person who could have told this story. \u201cNo,\u201d she says. \u201cBut with documentaries, you have to be able to build trust with people, and I\u2019m very grateful that people trusted me.\u201d It helped that she had known Borell and many of the artists since filming the TV show Kete Aronui early in her career.<\/p>\n
When Winstanley and producer Desray Armstrong began filming Toi T\u016b Toi Ora, everyone expected the exhibition would tour internationally, as Te M\u0101ori had in 1984. \u201cI had the story arc: the exhibition would be a celebration of a well-overdue moment in time, and then travel. But I didn\u2019t anticipate Nigel resigning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exhibition curator and artist Nigel Borell with Winstanley. Photo \/ David St George<\/p>\n
Winstanley also didn\u2019t anticipate being told by the gallery that, despite record attendance and coveted international interest, the moment had passed for the exhibition to travel.<\/p>\n
TOIT\u016a: Visual Sovereignty captures heartbreak and friction, showing what happens when a colonial institution meets an indigenous worldview; the former hierarchical, the latter collaborative. After watching it, you have red eyes, an expanded heart and a clear understanding of why M\u0101ori sovereignty should be honoured in every space.<\/p>\n
Borell and Winstanley during their work on the documentary film TOITU: Visual Sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Despite what\u2019s revealed, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T\u0101maki is fully behind the film. When it was accepted into SBIFF, Winstanley called acting director Tom Irvine to suggest a screening and auction fundraiser. <\/p>\n
\u201cGive me an hour,\u201d he told her. The auction idea had come from Gossage, who saw the film at Matakana Cinema and offered to paint a work to help raise funds. Borell and Gossage\u2019s gallerist, Tim Melville, warned it would be \u201ca lot of work\u201d but quickly came on board, introducing Winstanley to Webb\u2019s auction house. <\/p>\n
Within three weeks, the project came together. Slipping into producer mode, Winstanley rallied sponsors and artists, securing Cotton as her \u201cheavy hitter\u201d, and says, \u201cWhen the kaupapa is right, things fall into place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taika Waititi signing artwork at the auction. Photo \/ David St George<\/p>\n
Waititi features in the film. He kindly donated two pieces from his Dirty Money series. Before the auction, he texted Winstanley, worried his art, featuring doctored $1 and $2 notes, might not sell. He needn\u2019t have worried. On the night, bidders went into a frenzy and more than doubled the estimated price.<\/p>\n
Gossage\u2019s paintings also sparked a storm of paddle-waving. Winstanley had hoped for $50,000; she raised more than $100,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the ability to be ready to respond to any festival or market is an independent film-maker\u2019s dream. Both Desray and I have personally invested far beyond what was raised, so not having to put more into distribution means I\u2019m on my way to creating the distribution roll-out I only dreamed of five years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n
There\u2019s talk of screening the documentary in museums and galleries globally, especially those holding M\u0101ori taonga.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Winstanley’s mother, Cherry Wilson, at the Auckland Art Gallery. Photo \/ David St George<\/p>\n
TOIT\u016a: Visual Sovereignty is storytelling at its best: affecting change. Winstanley, who chairs the Indigenous Alliance Affinity Group at the Oscars, says her work always has a bigger purpose. \u201cYou put your heart and soul into it, and hope that you\u2019re able to create conversation. That\u2019s what this film\u2019s done more than I ever hoped for. People are talking.\u201d <\/p>\n
We discuss possibilities: what might happen if every P\u0101keha in a position of power watched the film. \u201cThis country could be incredible, and be teachers around the world. We could break that colonial stronghold and show what working together looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
The response at SBIFF was wonderful, says Winstanley. \u201cNigel and I weren\u2019t sure if it would translate overseas, but the universal themes touched people.\u201d Representatives from the Chumash Nation (Los Angeles) attended the screening and later spoke of shared indigenous journeys and colonial histories. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were thrilled to be joined by award-winning director Andy Davis (The Fugitive), who told us the film was \u2018beautifully put together … with substance and soul, giving voice to those who are rarely heard\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Troy Kingi watching the work of Ngahina Hohaia.<\/p>\n
Praise continued. LA-based New Zealand business leader Peter Cooper said, \u201cHow we experience our heritage is deeply personal and must be treated with dignity and humility. This production achieves both.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nigel Daly, president of Screen International North America, said, \u201cBeautifully directed \u2014 it\u2019s a film everyone needs to see, especially now.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a full-circle moment for Winstanley. Just before the Covid pandemic, she moved back from LA to switch from producing to directing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad I made that decision to return to what I always wanted to do. I was 45. Don\u2019t let age get in the way of your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The critically acclaimed film gives a visually sumptuous, sometimes shocking glimpse behind Toi T\u016b Toi Ora: Contemporary M\u0101ori…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,66917,1228,149286,39307,21335,50605,158587,156,593,17510,4505,111,139,69,135972,199,301,223,1961,210,61,14638,147948,4576,377],"class_list":{"0":"post-284459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-angela","10":"tag-art","11":"tag-barnett","12":"tag-chelsea","13":"tag-conversation","14":"tag-creating","15":"tag-documentarymaker","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-film","18":"tag-lets","19":"tag-moment","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-reignite","24":"tag-take","25":"tag-talks","26":"tag-the","27":"tag-this","28":"tag-through","29":"tag-to","30":"tag-wants","31":"tag-winstanley","32":"tag-work","33":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}