Eth_iks

• Drawn and painted in Procreate
• 5000 x 5000px | 300DPI
• Brush strokes: 33,078
• Tracked time: 42hrs 58 minutes
• 37MB

This artwork is an adaptation of a commissioned portrait of Captain James Cook, painted by Nathaniel Dance, 1776. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Greenwich Hospital Collection.

Rather than celebrating Cook as a hero this adaptation looks to acknowledge the terror he brought to the Pacific, his role in colonising Aotearoa and the destruction and death that would follow. The impact of these first encounters would be felt by the indigenous people of the Pacific for centuries to come.

Cook made land in Aotearoa in October 1769, the first Europeans to visit in over 100 years. This first encounter almost immediately resulted in bloodshed and would set the tone for what was to follow. Here, Cook is presented in a way that he and his peers (both now and then) might recognise as a terrorist. Make no mistake: Cook's voyages were part of a military mission to expand and conquer. His ship, the HMS Endeavour was a floating fortress, with the ability to send well armed troops to shore, and/or concentrate firepower as needed.

Edition of 25. This represents the life expectancy of Māori in the years that would follow these first encounters. Prior to that, life expectancy was thought to be equal to, or greater than that of the coloniser's.