Kauri Hawkins: Red vs Blue

Kauri Hawkins (Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata) hails from Gisborne where he grew up on the sheep station at Young Nick’s Head. Referencing the arrival of James Cook’s Endeavour at Poverty Bay in 1769, Hawkins’ sculptural project explores the duality of our heritage and identity 250 years on.

In Red vs Blue, Hawkins merges imagery to explore the way aspects of American basketball have become a contemporary cultural phenomena. Hawkins highlights the impact of the arrival of early Europeans on our ideas of identity and nationhood, and proposes there are echoes of this today in the way basketball has been incorporated into youth culture.