January 25, 2013
Photographer returns to pā
Photographer Ans Westra is on a hikoi back to some of the Māori communities where she produced some of her iconic images in the 1950s and 60s.
The Dutch-born artist hoped to reconnect with some of those she photographed back then in Ruatoki, Ruatoria, Rotorua and Whanganui.
Her Washday at the Pā, depicting a family in Ruatoria, was withdrawn from schools after the Māori Women’s Welfare League objected to its depiction of rural poverty, but it has since been hailed as a classic.
She says the shoot wasn’t planned.
"Those children just saw me, recognised me, said 'come for a cup of tea,' and I saw the setting, I started photographing. They never said 'what do you think you are doing?' Then when I went to the education department with the finished book, because I also wrote it, they said 'lovely photos, but the family is poor," she says.
Ans Westra says she was glad to have captured images of everyday life, rather than the tourism focus of most images of Māori from the period.
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