A project looking at Maori art from a Maori perspective has been awarded $635,000 of research funding.
The grant comes from the Marsden Fund, which is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand and supports studies across a range of areas.
Dr Deidre Brown from the University of Auckland, Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki and Dr Ngarino Ellis will analyse Maori art based on case studies, ancestral narratives, historical records and interviews with contemporary artists.
The project, called Toi Te Mana, will trace the development of Maori art from its Polynesian origins to the present day.
Dr Brown says it will be the first indigenous art history created by and with indigenous peoples.
She says in the past a lot of the historical accounts that have been published and talked about have looked at Maori art history from a Western point of view and important points have been overlooked.
