This untitled photograph by Ans Westra encourages us to rewind and consider the emotions felt in past events; events that symbolise our identity. Evenly spread across the image, four tamariki play candidly, inviting us to envision a similar degree of playfulness, regardless of our vulnerabilities.
Westra was a visionary, capturing aspects of identity, migration, and social realism in Aotearoa until her recent passing. The Dutch-born photographer had a meticulous approach to solidifying social histories. Westra ventured into some of the most remote and often misunderstood areas of our motu, capturing life on the marae and even mundane settings, while in contrast photographing urban protests, sex industries and the interactions between two cultures rarely integrated at the time.
Migrating to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1957 at age 21, Westra found a version of Aotearoa that was still navigating life post World War 2 and dealing with urbanisation and rapid social change.
Te ao Māori was disparate from her formal, war-torn Dutch childhood and she admired it immensely. Westra placed a key focus on Māoritanga and presented a documentary account of the complexities that race relations entailed. While Westra’s images have often raised questions surrounding representation and ownership, due to her expansive body of work over the last seven decades, we are able to visualise rarely documented social histories.
In 1998, Westra was awarded the Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit and in 2015, received an honorary doctorate from Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa for her long-standing services and contribution to visual culture in Aotearoa.
This untitled photograph is on display in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery's exhibition Hurahia ana kā Whetū: Unveiling the Stars, running until August 13.
Ans Westra died at the age of 86 on February 26 this year. She was a kuia, a whaea, and a friend to many. Kia okioki ia i runga i te rangimārie.
