I May Choose To Be Who I Am Not

Over this past weekend, the short film I May Choose To Be Who I Am Not (2024) has been placed on display within Staying Power. This film, created by Ōtepoti Pasifika Arts Collective, focuses on local social justice activist Mere Meanata Montgomery. Many will recognise Mere from Robin White’s iconic 1978 screenprint Mere and Siulolovao, Otago Peninsula. 

August 1, 2026 marked five years since the Government issued a formal apology to Pacific communities for the Dawn Raids, a period during the 1970s of targeted harassment by New Zealand Police and Immigration Officials towards Pacific peoples. Many protested in response to this treatment, including the Polynesian Panthers, of which Mere is a member. I May Choose To Be Who I Am Not shares some of Mere’s motivations as a social justice activist and aspirations as a Polynesian Panther. The short film is available to view within Staying Power until 13 September.

Later this month at the Gallery: WMH Memorial Lecture with Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu). Deidre Brown is a professor at Waipapa Taumata Rau—University of Auckland, an award-winning author, highly-regarded art historian and specialist on Māori architecture. 

Together with Ngarino Ellis and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, she recently published the book Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art which aimed to cover a great breadth and diversity of toi Māori from its beginnings to the present day. 

Nau mai, piki mai, all welcome!

FREE 2pm Sunday 30 August

This annual guest lecture is organised by the DPAG Society to commemorate the work of artist William Mathew Hodgkins, and is supported by RDS Gallery and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature.

Noho ora mai,
Mya Morrison-Middleton
Visitor Programmes Coordinator
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
 

[Image: above: Robin White (Ngāti Awa) Mere and Suilolovao, Otago Peninsula 1978. Screenprint on paper. Collection of Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Gifted 2025 by an anonymous donor.]