Towards a Kaupapa of Ancestral Power and Talk

Abstract

This thesis introduces my reading of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, focusing on their concept of immanence as it applies to Maori adoption of the portrait photograph and its subsequent influence on my developing kaupapa toi around photography, object and subjectivity. I examine how their ideas both agree and disagree with Kaitahutaka (cultural teachings and lifeways of Kai Tahu), finding resonances between their philosophy and Maori notions of whakapapa, mana and mauri. The thesis concentrates on Deleuze's last writing on immanence. I discuss Deleuze's antipathy to photographic representation, looking at ideas about resemblance, figuration, beings of sensation, affect and both 'A Life' and 'The Life'. Aspects of my practice are explained. I introduce elements of the portraits which comprise my final doctoral exhibition and relate these to my reading of Deleuze.