Te Rua-o-te-Moko Fiordland and Kā Puna-karikari-a-Rākaihautū Southern Lakes of Te Waipounamu South Island have been popular tourist destinations since the mid-nineteenth century. Commercial photographers of the time, such as the Burton Brothers, relied heavily on views of these iconic landscapes to make commercially attractive photographs to sell to customers. In this selection of photographs from Bridget Reweti’s Summering on Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri series, she responds to the Burton Brothers’ 1889 photographs from Wintering on Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri. Reweti reclaims them through a different lens informed by the awareness that these sites hold significance and memories for mana whenua, Kāi Tahu. She hand-coloured each photograph with whenua given to her by locals in each location, reconnecting her images with the experience of being present in the land, rather than ‘snapped and trapped’ views separated from their physical and cultural context.

mana whenua ~ Māori with authority over particular land or territory

Kāi Tahu ~ tribal group of much of Te Waipounamu South Island

whenua ~ ground, soil

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)

Te Rua-o-te-Moko Fiordland and Kā Puna-karikari-a-Rākaihautū Southern Lakes of Te Waipounamu South Island have been popular tourist destinations since the mid-nineteenth century. Commercial photographers of the time, such as the Burton Brothers, relied heavily on views of these iconic landscapes to make commercially attractive photographs to sell to customers. In this selection of photographs from Bridget Reweti’s Summering on Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri series, she responds to the Burton Brothers’ 1889 photographs from Wintering on Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri. Reweti reclaims them through a different lens informed by the awareness that these sites hold significance and memories for mana whenua, Kāi Tahu. She hand-coloured each photograph with whenua given to her by locals in each location, reconnecting her images with the experience of being present in the land, rather than ‘snapped and trapped’ views separated from their physical and cultural context.

mana whenua ~ Māori with authority over particular land or territory

Kāi Tahu ~ tribal group of much of Te Waipounamu South Island

whenua ~ ground, soil

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)

Working primarily with a 35mm camera, Ngahuia Harrison’s creates images that share narratives of her hapū related to wai (bodies of water). Her works consider the past and future histories of Ngātiwai landscape, utilising a Māori worldview of collectivity, co-dependence and reciprocity in community. Ngahuia says: “Te Wairahi was part of the same series Aunty Reo comes from. Aunty Reo is a cousin to my Mum, we connect through both my Nana and my Grandfather. But this is our connection on my Grandad’s side – our awa in Whananaki. I was photographing sites of significance in Whananaki at the same time as taking portraits of the Kuia from there, Aunty Reo is our eldest Kuia.”

The title for this series, E taria ana taku tinana ki te whai i te awa / My Body Will Follow the River, is taken from a whakataukī from Ngahuia’s iwi that talks about the importance of the sea, and how we, like our ancestral rivers, will always flow into the sea. In this region of Northland there are ongoing projects to clean up and restore the health of the rivers, and this photograph of Aunty Reo emphasises the connection of people, land and waterways.

(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )