Background

The seed for this UDDU project started in 2018. And in 2019 we were contracted by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki to be involved in the Visible Voices Research Project that was led by Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi (Learning and Outreach Programme and Visible Voices Project Manager at that time-space). We engaged Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Professor ‘Ōkusitino Māhina and Hikule‘o Fe‘aomoeako Melaia Māhina to look critically at the Tongan John Webber prints in their collection through a Tongan lens. The aim was to apply Tongan views of Tongan arts to these Webber prints and in the process also right the wrong with the naming and explaining of places, sites, people and cultural practices.

We worked closely with Ron Brownson (Senior Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Art at that time-space) where we visited and viewed the Webber plates with Georgia Prince (Principal Curator Printed Collections) at Te Kura Taiwhiti, Research, Heritage and Central Library, Ngā Whare Mātauranga o Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland Libraries.

As part of this process an unpublished paper was produced by Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu and Hikule‘o titled Koe Sio FakaTonga ‘ae ‘Aati FakaTonga: Tongan Views of Tongan Arts: The Arts of John Webber. We will engage other Tongan perspectives and will publish together with this paper as part of the online publications for this UDDU project.

There was also an associated public talk that we supported and hosted by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Why Webber?

Webber’s images are widely used and referenced within and across cultural and academic spaces, so it is timely that we provide a more balanced narrative by including what is missing and finally correcting inaccurate information.

The pilot with the Tongan Webber prints in 2019 was also to address the continued and problematic naming and explaining, from a Tongan worldview, of places, sites, cultural practices and people by Cook and his crew including Webber.

Fast forward to the end of 2020 where we shared about this project with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). It then led to this MFAT funded UDDU project that is also working in partnership with the British High Commission, British Council and the U.S. Consulate General.

The UDDU project is focusing on the images from the Webber plates that were published as part of the official publication of Cooks three voyages and representing the five island nations linked to Cook’s third and final voyage – Aotearoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tahiti and Hawai‘i - where Webber was employed as the expedition artist. 

So, the UDDU project seeks to fill a knowledge gap by providing the missing multiple Indigenous knowledge and narratives specific to the Moana Oceania Webber plates linked to Cook's third voyage.

Our approach.

Our approach involves embracing different ways of knowing, seeing and doing so that our shared history, as captured in Webber's prints, is balanced and more importantly represented accurately, particularly from the different worldviews of the five island nations linked to Cook’s third and final voyage: Aotearoa, Cook Islands (Mangaia), Tonga, Tahiti and Hawai‘i.. 

Embedding Indigenous knowledge & narratives.

Our hope is that the multiple Indigenous knowledge and narratives that come out of this UDDU project will be embedded into the relevant Cook / Webber records of all cultural institutions, within and across Aotearoa and globally, that have any Cook / Webber related collections.

Lagi-Maama Talanoa Thursdays

We first shared about this project on, 25 February 2020, to acknowledge that 244 years from that date the Resolution was moored at Meretoto (Ship Cove) where Cook and his crew, including Webber, were based at the Tōtaranui (Queen Charlotte Sound area), from 12 to 25 February 1777. Their last day in Tōtaranui was 25 February 1777 before they left Aotearoa to explore the wider Moana Oceania region.

To align with the announcement of our project on a Thursday, we plan on hosting an online Lagi-Maama Talanoa Thursdays for each of the five islands on the last Thursday of each month, starting with Aotearoa:

• Aotearoa - Thursday 29 April 2021

• Cook Islands - Thursday 27 May 2021

• Tonga - Thursday 24 June 2021

• Tahiti - Thursday 29 July 2021

• Hawai'i - Thursday 26 August 2021

The Lagi-Maama Talanoa Thursdays will be in the form of a panel between ‘Webber experts’ from cultural institutions in the UK and the U.S; ‘Webber experts’ from cultural institutions here in Aotearoa; and Indigenous holders of knowledge from each of the five island nations linked to Cook's third and final voyage that Webber documented, to share their Indigenous lens on what he captured.

For cultural organisations that have ‘Webber experts’ participate in the panel, we will share any resources, research and writings that have been produced around Cook’s voyages and particularly around their respective Webber collections. This will sit alongside knowledge gifted from our Indigenous holders of knowledge - from Aotearoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tahiti and Hawai'i - that will also be made available as on this website.

“Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity.”

The Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity (UDDU) project involves mediating the intersections of our shared and collective histories via the vehicle of Webber’s images. This is for the purpose of providing a more soa/hoa (balanced) understanding by taking a cross cultural approach to bring together the different Indigenous ways of knowing seeing and doing that is missing in the current narratives around what Webber captured in his images. This has not been done before and is the only way that we can provide unity in our diversity and celebrate our diversity in unity.