{{Short description|New Zealand photographic artist}} '''Gregory Alan Semu''' (born 1971, in Auckland) is a New Zealand-born photographic artist of Samoan descent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Semu, Greg|url=http://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/13469/|website=Find NZ Artists|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="Tautai">{{cite web|title=Greg Semu|url=http://www.tautai.org/artist/greg-semu/|website=Tautai|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref> In 1995 his exhibition ''O le Tatau Samona / The Tatoo Arts of Samoa'' was the first solo exhibition by a photographer of Samoan heritage at Auckland Art Gallery.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123509740 |title=Pacific Arts Aotearoa |date=2023-01-01 |isbn=978-1-77695-051-5 |editor-last=Lopesi |editor-first=Lana |language=English}}</ref>
==Career==
Semu is largely self-taught as an artist and film-maker.<ref name ='Tautai'/> In 1994 Semu was included in the landmark exhibition ''Bottled Ocean'' (1994), curated by Jim Vivieaere. His work for ''Bottled Ocean'' was a graffiti-inspired corrugated iron work that reflected on the 'gritty realities of Pacific communities living in suburban Auckland'.<ref name="CGW">{{cite web|title=Greg Semu: The Battle of the Noble Savage|url=http://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/greg-semu-battle-noble-savage|website=City Gallery Wellington|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref> In 1994 Semu also directed the music video for New Zealand hip hop group Sisters Underground's classic song ‘In the Neighbourhood’.
In 2007 Semu was invited to be the inaugural artist in residence at the newly opened Musee du Quai Branly.<ref name="Two Rooms">{{cite web|title=The Battle of the Noble Savage 2007|url=http://tworooms.co.nz/exhibition/the-battle-of-the-noble-savage/|website=Two Rooms Gallery|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref> The museum invited Semu to respond to a piece of advertising collateral, the 'Bonded by Blood' poster, which had been gifted to Quai Branly, to commemorate the All Blacks' 2006 tour of France and the 2007 Rugby World Cup.<ref name="Two Rooms"/> The 'Bonded by Blood' poster depicts the All Blacks performing their signature haka 'Ka Mate Ka Mate' in a rain forest setting with ancestral Māori figures silhouetted in the foliage.<ref name="Two Rooms"/> In what curator Reuben Friend describes as "an act of subversion", the photographs Semu produced show "fictitious scenes of Māori ‘warriors’ engaged in battle, seemingly celebrating the fighting spirit of Māori while addressing the objectionable stereotypes of Pacific people as 'primitive' and 'savage'."<ref name="CGW"/> The series, titled ''The Battle of the Noble Savage'', has been shown at a number of galleries, including City Gallery Wellington and Te Manawa in New Zealand.<ref name ='Tautai'/><ref name="CGW"/>
Semu has also worked as a commercial photographer. In 2010 he took portraits of New Zealand-born Polynesian rugby league players for a calendar produced by the Casula Powerhouse as a fundraiser and community outreach project for the Pasifika community.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dekker|first1=Diana|title=In a league of their own|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/3904828/In-a-league-of-their-own|accessdate=2 May 2016|agency=DominionPost|date=10 July 2010}}</ref>
In 2012 Semu placed an archive of his negatives, proof sheets and film reels, diaries and ephemera, and examples of his commercial work, on long-term loan to the Auckland Art Gallery.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brownson|first1=Ron|title=Receiving the Greg Semu Archive|url=http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/page/receiving-the-greg-semu-archive|website=Auckland Art Gallery|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref>
In 2016 Semu's exhibition ''The Raft of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific)'' was shown at the National Gallery of Victoria. Part of his ongoing exploration of the colonisation and Christianisation of the Pacific, these works also reference the genre of European history paintings from this period. In them Semu works with indigenous actors in the Cook Islands to re-stage and photograph two important 19th century paintings: Théodore Géricault’s ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (1819) and Louis John Steele and Charles F Goldie’s ''The Arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand'' (1898).<ref>{{cite web|title=Greg Semu: The Raft of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific)|url=http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/greg-semu/|website=National Gallery of Victoria|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref>
The 2010 his work ''The Last Cannibal Supper, Cause Tomorrow We Become Christians'' directly references the Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. It was created while on residency at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia and is a large mural-sized work.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=GREG SEMU 'AUTO PORTRAIT WITH 12 DISCIPLES' — thecoconet.tv - The world’s largest hub of Pacific Island content.uu |url=https://www.thecoconet.tv/moana-arts/tatau-pasifika/greg-semu-auto-portrait-with-12-disciples/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=www.thecoconet.tv}}</ref> <blockquote>In Semu’s last supper, he draws attention to the negative impact of colonial intrusion into indigenous cultures and questions notions of the primitive and savage, while attempting to regain lost heritage by restaging grand European narratives with indigenous people taking centre stage. (Coconet, 2010)<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>
==Awards and residencies==
*'''2007''' Inaugural Artist in residence, Musée du Quai Branly<ref name=":0" /> *'''2008''' Artist in residence Unitec Institute of Technology *'''2009''' Artist in residence, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan *'''2010''' Artist residency, Tjibaou Cultural Centre *'''2011''' Artist residency Elcho Island Arts, Elcho Island, Northern Territory, Australia *'''2014''' Resident artist at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia; Creative New Zealand Visual Arts Residency at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin<ref name ='Tautai'/>
==Further information==
*[http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/archives/19660 Greg Semu Archive], Auckland Art Gallery *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOx8VXbKMoo Interview with Greg Semu] produced by City Gallery Wellington, 2011 *[http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/onairhighlights/decolonizing-the-mind-photographer-greg-semus-installation-at-apt7/1061124 Interview with Greg Semu], Radio Australia, 2012 *John Hurrell, [http://eyecontactsite.com/2013/09/greg-semus-noble-savages Review of 'The Battle of the Noble Savage'], EyeContact, 2 September 2013 *[https://www.navigart.fr/mac-lyon/artwork/greg-semu-the-body-of-christ-in-twelve-parts-2000-80000000000742?layout=grid&page=1&filters=authors%3ASEMU%20Greg%E2%86%B9SEMU%20Greg Artwork in the French public collections], Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Semu, Greg}} Category:1971 births Category:Samoan artists Category:Living people Category:Photographers from Auckland Category:New Zealand people of Samoan descent