So your not an import

So You’re Not an Import by artist Lily Laita characterises the way in which the artist’s works relate to personal experiences of cultural and racial conflict. This painting on black-builders paper arose out of the artist’s feeling of unease during an artist residence in Ōtautahi Christchurch. A sense of disconnection to whenua are depicted in the central panel through landmarks including the map of Ilam Schoof Fine Arts and the house where the artist stayed.

Laita, who has both Māori and Sāmoan ancestry, often drew on her heritage to articulate experiences of conflict and tension. These tensions are made explicit through text in the lower right panel. In Gagana Samoa, ‘O ai oe?’ asks, “Who are you?”; in te reo Māori, ‘Kei hea tō kāinga?’ asks, “Where is your home?”; and in English, the question appears: “So you’re not an import?” While the first two questions ground identity in whakapapa and place, and can be read as forming the beginning of a pepeha, the final question disrupts this framework. It echoes a racialised remark directed at the artist by an American faculty member, exposing the reductive and exclusionary assumptions imposed upon her.

A counterpoint to these tensions is articulated external panels which depict two pairs of figures in mutual embrace. These figures act as sentinels or guardians, embodying forms of care, and cultural grounding that sustain the artist in the face of exclusion.

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