Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review

Volume 13, Issue 2, 2022

Ann HardyOrcid-ID, Arezou ZalipourOrcid-ID
Pages 162-189

Material Culture and Changing Identities
Religion, Society, and Art in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article surveys intersections between art, religion, and society in three periods of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand: 1) Polynesian settlement, 2) British colonization and 3) a contemporary multicultural society built on a bicultural base. Using a material culture framework which traces changes in the uses and significance of artistic objects as they pass through the hands of members of various religious and secular communities, it illustrates, through a variety of examples from the fields of popular art, fine arts and architecture, that art has, and can, play a large part in negotiations between religious traditions, particularly when they encounter one another in conflict, reconciliation and hybridization.