'Constructing Monstrosities' is a creative research project which draws on Australia and New Zealand cinema’s portrayal of landscape and Pasifika identities in the wake of diaspora caused by legislated colonial assimilation and genocide. How is guilt caused by past and current colonial-style transgressions such as illegal claims of sovereignty, ethical violations, forced assimilation and genocide expressed visually? Is Abjection driven by patriarchy or the amygdala?

This project explores abject cinematic places and people where binaries, such as colonialism and post-colonialism, Anglo and Māori, masculine and feminine, and plant and animal, co-exist to promote what Kristeva describes as “the place where meaning collapses” (1982, 2), to provoke audiences to celebrate diversity rather than enforce assimilation as a strategy for balance and reconciliation.