Art, Ethnic Identity and Frozen Actions: Conceptualising Art Created and Displayed in the Home of a M ā ori Visual Artist and a Samoan Visual Artist

Defining and understanding a positive and inclusive Māori or Pacific ethnic identity is difficult. Yet doing so is necessary in order to enhance the wellbeing of Māori and Pacific people in New Zealand. This paper argues that analysing the art of a Māori and Samoan visual artist using frozen actions as the analytical tool, reveals their fluid ethnic identity. Actions such as hanging the art, producing the art and researching the art are embedded as frozen actions in the art itself. These identity telling actions reveal a fluid ethnic identity, a positive and inclusive ethnic identity which combines ideas about the social environment and ethnicity.