Gina Matchitt
Where Everyone Gets a Bargain
There is a nice irony in the fact that the journalist who takes the front seat in New Zealand’s art current affairs television show is also the voice behind the advertisements for New Zealand’s budget chain The Warehouse. This irony would probably appeal to artist Gina Matchitt, whose recent series of work, ‘Where Everyone Gets a Bargain’ (2005), is a knowing reinvestigation of the branding behind some of our best-known commercial enterprises.
Her works in ‘Telecom Prospect 2007’, a suite of five shopping bags, depend on our familiarity with the household names and logos of The Warehouse, Liquor King, KFC, Countdown and Pak n Save. Matchitt’s playful ‘brand refresh’ involves translating company names into Māori, and giving their logos a local Māori inflection. Matchitt’s Colonel bears a moko and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Kiwi For Chicken if you’re health conscious) is translated as Kiwi Mo Heihei. The other works are translated variously as: Te Wharewhero (The Warehouse), Waipiro Kingi (Liquor King), Tatauraro (Countdown) and Takupe A Tiaki (Pak n Save).
One of the inspirations for this project came from a supermarket in Tokomaru Bay where its Pākehā owner has translated all store signage into Māori. Matchitt encourages us to consider the relationship between economics and the control of language, and the possibility that one day we might be surrounded by bilingual signs and symbols.
Writing about Matchitt’s work recently, art writer Sue Gardiner described these bags as having a kind of Bro Town humour. The works indeed bear a familial resemblance to the t-shirts that you can purchase at local weekend markets, and to Teuanoa'i—Adorn to Excess (2000), a work by Shigeyuki Kihara which caused a furore when it was exhibited at Te Papa in 2001. These diverse projects could be interpreted as a parodying of corporate logos; perhaps more useful to consider, however, is the ways in which these objects represent a process of customisation, where the ubiquitous becomes personal. Although the series bears the catch cry ‘Where Everyone Gets a Bargain’, Matchitt’s bags are hardly bargain basement; each one has been handcrafted, made and embellished from vinyl, fur, plastics and sheepskin.
Sarah Farrar
Gina Matchitt artist bio:
Born Rotorua, 1966
Ngāti Rangitihi, Te Arawa, Ngāti Ngahere, Whakatōhea
Lives and works in Edgecumbe
Craft Design Diploma (Jewellery), Unitec, Auckland
Currently undertaking a Master of Māori Visual Arts at Massey University, Palmerston North
Selected solo exhibitions include: ‘E Kare, You’re So Colonised!’, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington (2007); 'Where Everyone Gets a Bargain', Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland (2005); 'Geyserland Hotel', Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland (2004).
Selected group exhibitions include: 'Awatea', Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington (2005); 'Purangiaho', Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland (2001).
Image credits:
Gina Matchitt
Kiwi Mo Heihei (Kiwi for Chicken) 2005
from the series ‘Where Everyone Gets a Bargain’
vinyl, nubuck, sheepskin, plastic beading, brocade
Collection of Stephen Casey, Wellington
Waipiro Kingi (Liquor King) 2005
from the series ‘Where Everyone Gets a Bargain’
vinyl, nubuck, sheepskin, plastic beading, brocade
Collection of Sarah Trotman, Auckland
Tatauraro (Countdown) 2005
from the series ‘Where Everyone Gets a Bargain’
vinyl, nubuck, sheepskin, plastic beading, brocade
Courtesy of Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland