Beyond the monolith: In search of representation
Oct 2024 Issue #4
Welcome to issue 4 of the Satellites magazine!
The seed for this issue was planted when I read Abel Mercer’s contribution to Past the Tower, Under the Tree, edited by Balamohan and Erena Shingade and published last year by Gloria Books. Writing about ‘a lifetime of myths and hearsay about what it means to be an artist’, Abel imagines Janet Frame applying for project-by-project funding and wonders whether she would’ve been successful.
I haven’t been able to let go of this image. There are countless artists out there, balancing on the fine edge between creating hospitable conditions for their practice and navigating the backstage chaos of keeping it all afloat. Beyond the actual work of making new work, there are the emails, funding applications, and endless uncertainty.
It’s the same juggle that underpins this issue. Ankita Singh writes about throwing everything at the wall to try and develop a writing routine. Jennifer Cheuk writes about creating a supportive platform for artists through the magazine Rat World — fighting the sweeping tidal-wave of algorithms and trying to build something that isn’t just another elitist bubble. And Claudia Kogachi's series All The Careers I’ve Considered Doing In Order To Finance My Art Career was the perfect complement for this issue.
In this issue’s extended essay, Nathan Joe goes looking for a history of Asian theatre in Aotearoa, to see if it’s possible to stitch together a narrative or canon of our on-stage representation. He revisits his youthful assessments of the work of generations past and debates whether canonical thinking still holds value for theatre-makers today.
Finally, thanks to Abel, Balamohan, Erena, and Katie Kerr for allowing us to republish Abel’s essay! Along with the other contributions to this issue, it raises all sorts of questions about what the Venn diagram of making art and making a living might look like, and the different ways that artists think about their legacy.
As we settle into kōanga, this issue invites you to sit with the question: What does it take to be an artist today?
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About this issue's cover art
Utagawa Sadahide, Woman viewing a silhouette, 1856–61, woodblock print. Te Papa (2016-0008-40)
The cover art for this issue is a woodblock print by Utagawa Sadahide (1807–73). Its distinctive shape betrays its intention as a uchiwa-e (fan-shaped print), designed to be cut out and pasted onto a handheld fan. In 2018 I included this woodcut print in Things Seen and Heard, a small exhibition at Te Papa, where it is part of the collections.
