Young riders take a break during Pawarenga Race Day, January 1987. Photo / Marg Morrow
Young riders take a break during Pawarenga Race Day, January 1987. Photo / Marg Morrow
An upcoming photo exhibition captures a vanished era — and a vanishing way of life — in North Hokianga.
The 200 images in Common Ground were taken over a 10-year period, from 1984-94, by Kohukohu photographer Marg Morrow.
Her project had its genesis in the plethora of PEP (Project Employment Programme) schemes designed to get people back into the workforce during the economic malaise of the mid-1980s.
In Morrow's case, she was employed by the then Hokianga County Council to document the people of North Hokianga over a six-month period.
"I got a teacher's salary. It was a dream job for me, and an extraordinary thing for the council to do," she said.
Until that point Morrow was known for her landscape photos and had done little portrait work.
However, she threw herself into the project and photographed everyone she could, everywhere she could.
"I went to every hui, every function at marae and schools. I went to the horse races at Pawarenga and Mitimiti. I went to the unemployment hui at Mangataipa, the hui waiata at Mangamuka, forestry hui, and the Broadwood A&P Show," she said.
"It was a real time of change in Hokianga, political change. Te reo was just starting to show its face and land issues were coming to the fore. I photographed everybody and everything that was happening," she said.
Auntie Queen celebrates her granddaughter's first birthday at Mangamuka Marae, December 1985. Photo / Marg Morrow
After six months the pay stopped but Morrow kept going.
"I carried on for the next 10 years, unpaid. I couldn't resist. I got really involved in the politics of Hokianga ... I also wanted to photograph ordinary people, painting their houses, working in their gardens, hanging out with the kids. I had no grand vision at the time. I just wanted to photograph my community."
Ben Te Wake in his Te Karaka Point museum, January 1986. Photo / Marg Morrow
Originally from Christchurch, Morrow had arrived in Hokianga a few years earlier, part of an exodus of hippies and alternative lifestylers from the cities seeking a purer way of life in rural New Zealand.
She soon realised the Māori community embodied many of the values she was seeking, but also had a strength and commitment to the whānau that fascinated her.
At times her project ran into resistance but each time the late Father Tate of Motutī lent his support and she was able to carry on.
"At that time Hokianga hadn't changed much. It was still very isolated. In one way it was disappearing but in another it wasn't. The Māori of Hokianga have such a strong identity."
Dame Whina Cooper speaks during a housing hui at a Ngāti Manawa Marae in Panguru. Photo / Marg Morrow
Morrow's black and white images were taken on 35mm film and originally printed in her home darkroom, though the photos on display were scanned from negatives and digitally printed on silver halide paper.
The exhibition consists of 186 portraits and 14 landscapes chosen from thousands of images taken over the project's 10-year period.
Common Ground will run from October 22 to November 27 at Village Arts in Kohukohu.
