Contemplating the Contemporary: Artist Biographies in the Wiki Space as Time Passes

‘” It’s this fascination I have with finding gems that are like missing pieces of our human collective historical record and thinking, ‘this is important and this is going to be lost for all time if I don’t write this article right now.’” – Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, co-founder of Women in Red

I was introduced to the extensive reach of Wikipedia as a beneficial tool for artists through an ‘Introduction to Wikimedia’ event with the University of Auckland’s Art History Society in collaboration with the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Wikimedian in Residence, Anjuli Selvadurai. Following the event, I dove into a long list of Aotearoa contemporary artists without their own Wikipedia pages, which as a student at Elam School of Fine Arts and art history major shocked me due to the lack of recognition for many artists I had researched and had influenced my own creative practice.

I got to work on my first article for contemporary artist Ana Iti and was met with my first challenge of needing to heavily prioritise secondary information when a history of her practice had been detailed by the artist herself on her website. This realisation was both frustrating and insightful because I wanted to contribute to the recognition of the artist’s profile in the international digital realm, but as an artist myself I would never want to diminish anyone’s self-promotion, nor does it comply with the principles of Wiki. These learnings resulted in Ana Iti’s article being a short start-class article without any images, however it became my stepping stone into the world of Wiki.

The considered treatment of contemporary artist biographies on Wikipedia compared to those who have passed, became a common thread in the seam of my summer studentship at Auckland War Memorial Museum for the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Local Histories Wikipedia Project. I began my project by completing articles for Roger Neich (1944-2010) and Mick Pendergrast (1932-2010), two authors of Indigenous art histories in Aotearoa and the Pacific who passed away not too long ago. I found especially with Pendergrast, that a lot of information regarding his legacy was either not published yet or briefly intertwined within publications such as the Journal of the Polynesian Society as opposed to making headlines most likely due to copyright. Despite having referenced these scholars time and time again in my own work, I had to remind myself to avoid bias and focus on unopinionated descriptions of their work and careers. Nevertheless, regardless of the articles’ length, my central takeaway was how rewarding it felt to have their legacies published on Wikipedia knowing that I’m filling an art history knowledge gap.

At the beginning of our studentship we were introduced to various Wiki projects, including the Women in Red project, and the Aotearoa Asian Artists project. These smaller groups dedicated to representing minorities on Wikipedia were something that I was excited to contribute to with my articles on Beatrice Enid Bell, New Zealand artist who served in World War I and II, Rosabel Tan, New Zealand writer and creative producer advocating for Aotearoa Asian artist, and Molly Rangiwai-McHale (Ngāti Porou and Te Aupōuri), New Zealand multimedia artist changing historical narratives of Indigenous experiences, and prioritising voices of women and LGBTQI+ people.

Documentation of women during wartime outside of domestic or nursing roles wasn’t prioritised so the search for information about Beatrice Enid Bell was one with rabbit holes like detailed newspaper cuttings and challenges such as Enid’s handwritten diary entries in a tight cursive font. However, with contemporary figures like Rosabel Tan and Molly Rangiwai-McHale, the level of secondary recognition wasn’t inherently more expansive. In the contemporary art space, I am often dealing with recording someone’s active career, so discussion and imagery of their work can be deemed promotional despite it usually being more readily accessible online. The person’s level of agency was also essential for me to consider. Bell, having passed in 1977 has no agency over how she is now perceived in digital archives, whereas contemporary artists can create their own digital spaces, participate in interviews and build a curated presence with tools like social media.

I have lived in West Auckland my whole life and participated in creative arts from a young age, so contributing to records of local artist groups and collectives in that area is also important to me. At a Corban Estate Arts Centre open studio day in 2025 I heard about the Kākano Youth Arts Collective and felt compelled by their compilation of community mural projects to write a page about them. This endeavour came with a new set of ethics to consider when writing as the collective’s members are vulnerable rangatahi (youth/teens), so protection of privacy was crucial to the writing of the article. I also experienced some pushback in this article’s review process being flagged for relying on too many primary sources, and it was suggested to add in secondary sources on the collective welcoming Snoop Dogg to Aotearoa in 2023. Whilst I understood that this increased notability and extends the article’s reach, I refrained from making this the article’s lead interest as I didn’t want to diminish the group’s main aim of improving confidence and providing creative opportunities in a safe space.

On the other hand, as a result of its surplus of records held at the Museum, my work on the historical Auckland Society of Arts meant selectiveness became a priority. Auckland Museum holds most records for the society alongside Auckland Art Gallery, with many digitised including 68 of their annual exhibition catalogues, not to mention all the other ephemera associated with group and solo exhibitions, events held, and meeting notes. It was the first page of my project, and it was finished to a C-Class status in the fifth week. Completing this article helped me familiarise myself with uploading and appropriately crediting photos to Wikimedia Commons. After discovering an abundance of over 200 images from the society’s exhibitions in the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections where many had no known copyright, I was able to embellish my article with multiple visual galleries, allowing those who read my article to visualise the world of one of the early art societies in New Zealand.

As a new editor it was hard to let my work go once it was published but after hearing from Wikimedian Siobhan Leachman talk about her process of “catching” her research, writing on it, and then “releasing” it into the world of open-access resources, it solidified for me that it is not my work but rather my contribution to ‘a media landscape that reflects Aotearoa New Zealand.’[1]I have discovered great value in contributing both contemporary and historical information to Wiki platforms. Whether recording the foundation of a contemporary artist’s career, or maintaining the memories of those whose work we admire without their presence, they all deserve to be remembered as creatives that made profound impacts on their histories. I am excited to continue my Wiki journey and eager to witness the day that content on notable women equates to more than 20% of the total, and they are consistently recognised as global icons and changemakers.

Bibliography:

Tan, Rosabel, Dr James Wenley. New Mirrors. Strengthening Arts and Culture Media for Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, 2023.

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[1] Rosabel Tan, Dr James Wenley, New Mirrors. Strengthening Arts and Culture Media for Aotearoa New Zealand (New Zealand: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, 2023), 11.

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