General Assembly
Fiona Jack, Installation (paint, pencil contributions, documents) Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, 2008General Assembly asks why New Zealand voted against ratifying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 along with Australia, Canada, and the US. Canada has since signed and Australia have announced that they will, leaving the US and NZ as the only two countries voting against.
The declaration is presented in two parts. The preambular paragraphs, which express the aspirations of the declaration, are each presented as small and detailed paintings of paragraphs that were handwritten by members of the public around the world. The articles of the treaty are written on the wall of the gallery by visitors to the exhibition who choose to contribute.
Update: in April 2010 the NZ government signed this declaration. NZ Herald article
- Shinae, Korea, New Zealand
- Mose, Samoa, New Zealand
- Richard, England, New Zealand
- Sock-Cheng, Singapore, New Zealand
- Sonya, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Jacinda Australia, Australia
- Rabdeep, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Tamsen, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Kassy, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Peter, Australia, Australia
- Sara, New Zealand, Canada
- Toshi, Canada, Australia
- Ruth, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Rebecca, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Rachel, Australia, New Zealand
- Ash, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Jessica, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Anne-Marie, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Emily, New Zealand, lives New Zealand
- Loretta, Australia, New Zealand
- Joyce, New Zealand, New Zealand
- Andrea, New Zealand, Australia
- Andrew, USA, Australia
United Nations forum (Full declaration text avail here)
Converge website – NGO working towards NZ signing the declaration