The 2nd-3rd dynasties were crucial for the early development of Pharaonic civilization, yet they remain obscure due to a paucity of contemporary texts and securely dated material. The broad historical outline has been established with some certainty, but numerous questions remain unanswered. Royal funerary monuments dominate the archaeological record and help to chart changes in the underlying ideology. Religion as a whole was virtually indistinguishable from the royal cult, and the disconnect between state and private worship reflects a wider division between the ruling elite and the populace. Nevertheless, the demands of pyramid building led to the opening up and professionalization of government. Long-lasting initiatives to enhance economic productivity included better record-keeping, greater exploitation of Egypt’s mineral wealth, and increased foreign trade.
Since 2018, a kin group of Kāi Tahu contemporary artists called Paemanu has worked collaboratively with the Dunedin Public Art Gallery (DPAG)—established in 1884 and home of the oldest art collection in Aotearoa New Zealand—to see Māori values and concepts introduced into and intersect at the art institution. The group’s goals have been realised through the collaborative permanent collection exhibition Hurahia ana kā Whetū: Unveiling the Stars at DPAG (June 2021– April 2023 ); the enhanced role of the DPAG curatorial intern; the exhibition He reka te Kūmara (November 2021–March 2022) by emerging Māori curators; the establishment of the Paemanu Art Collection; and Paemanu’s self-determined exhibition at DPAG, Paemanu: Tauraka Toi—A Landing Place (December 2021–April 2022). This article discusses and celebrates the ways Kāi Tahu Māori contemporary visual culture has been elevated throughout DPAG for the first time in the institution’s history. It describes the tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) by Kāi Tahu Māori artists to change up the gallery experience at DPAG so that Mana Whenua (the people of the land) are finally visible and are sensed throughout.
The ancient Egyptians visualized their deities in many ways, and while anthropomorphic gods and goddesses represented only one of the major forms that deities took in ancient Egyptian culture, the sub-category was broad and encompassed several different types. Although they all shared the common characteristic of exhibiting primarily anthropomorphic identity in their iconographic form and mythological behavior, deities of this class might take fully human, hybrid (“bimorphic”), or composite form. They could include deifications of abstract ideas and non-living things, as well as deified humans—living, deceased, or legendary (such as Imhotep). While a category of “anthropomorphic deities” was not one that the Egyptians themselves differentiated, deities of this type included many of Egypt’s greatest gods and goddesses, and the anthropomorphic form was used more than any other to depict the interactions of humans and the gods in religious iconography.