Xavier de la Cueva Meade
Aotearoa - Cuban Connection
Our country has seen a number of social and political liberators in its short history. From legends such as Tane Mahuta, who separated earth and sky to liberate our world from darkness, to more recent activists, such as Owen Wilkes, who was the peace and land activist responsible for creating organisations such as the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC). Cuba, on the other hand, has a long history of political development which has seen many liberators and social activists including the now popularised icon Che Guevara. By combining several of New Zealand's influential activists with the traditional visual techniques of Cuba's political posters, Xavier de la Cueva Meade, Wintec's School of Media Arts Design Lecturer, has created the Aotearoa-Cuba Liberation Poster Project.
The idea for the project started when Xavier was surrounded by beautiful Cuban movie posters while designing a magazine for the Mexican Cineteca Nacional. Xavier owned a small collection of these posters and had attended a conference in 2006 where he met the printers from the legendary Cuban screenprint shop of the ICAIC (Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográfico). This prompted him to think "I should do something with these guys".
Xavier returned to NZ and chose 12 artists (7 of whom were former Wintec lecturers and one a former student) to each create an original piece depicting a chosen New Zealand liberator whom they found inspiring and significant to our country. The artists were engaged in researching their liberator and also the methods of making a traditional Cuban poster. Both the research text (some including poems and letters) and the posters were then presented side by side at the exhibition, which created a unique reaction from visitors. "It was really surprising to see people reading everything, just like a book. Some teachers even said they wanted to display these pieces in their schools," Xavier explains.
With support from Wintec's research funding program, Xavier was lucky enough to travel to Cuba and Mexico with their research exhibition. At the launch, held in Havana at Cuba's only design institution, another 88 countries exhibited posters as part of the ICOGRADA (International Council of Graphic Design Associations) World Congress. For the printers, the New Zealand colours and designs were very exciting and they were very happy to have had interest from the other side of the world.
Aotearoa has also been fortunate to see the posters travel around several festivals and locations throughout the summer. One location was the Parihaka International Peace Festival (11th-13th January in Taranaki), which celebrates indigenous leaders of non-violence, such as Te Whiti O Rongomai, whom Xavier researched. Another was the Te Ao Marama festival in Whaingaroa - Raglan, the liberated land of Tuaiwa (Eva Rickard). Wintec's Ramp Gallery exhibited the project during February and March. Waiheke Island is the next destination for the project and one of the featured activists, Susi Newborn, currently lives on the Island. The last show was at the Waikato Museum and there is an invitation to exhibit in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2009.
Xavier is now planning another collaborative project between Mexican weavers and New Zealand designers.