In September 2024, Tyson will conclude his practice-led PhD at Wominjeka Djeembana through Monash University. The exegesis and artistic practice encapsulate my position as a sole-author artist.

Abstract:

The context of this practice-led research stems from the Whanganui River being granted legal personhood in 2017 by the crown. For many Māori (the Indigenous people of New Zealand), wai Māori (freshwater) is considered an ancestral being and more than the personhood status granted to it by the crown. While that term was a great success for Māori sovereignty, it effectively prescribes a Eurocentric value onto a water ancestor. The research is concerned with the tension between these different concepts and value systems.

The research proposes that kaupapa Māori performance drawing can counteract European values placed on a Māori body of many watery genealogical relations. This is examined through the paradigm of Indigenous research methodologies, centring Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), Kaupapa Māori auto-ethnography, whakapapa, and contemporary art practice. A combination of my lived experience, interviews and conversational research are used as data for this research. 

This research is articulated as a form of embodied knowledge and mana motuhake (self-determination) where my own personhood is expressed. Through the metaphor of water, this contemporary art practice reveals a framework to speak between European and Māori ontologies and epistemologies.