Exhibition a window on times gone by

The exhibition mounted by renowned photographer Ans Westra at Kaitaia College last week proved beyond all doubt the truth of her belief that what might seem mundane today will be of great interest in the future.

She only came to appreciate that fully with the passage of time.

"I knew I was lucky at the time to capture what I did, but I didn't fully appreciate the insights I documented with my camera and what they were preserving for Maori culture until recently, when you see what's been lost and what has endured," she said.

Her exhibition in Kaitaia had given her the opportunity to renew her friendships with many of her subjects of 30 years before, but was less successful in terms of instilling her passion for photography in a new generation.

The Kaitaia College students had been "pretty well behaved," she said, but very few young people were interested in photography in this day and age.

"They have a camera club (at the college) but really they're not being taught," she said, although she agreed a good photographer's eye was a gift rather than the result of instruction.

Her advice, however, was to photograph the familiar the environment, parents and friends.

"The time will come when you will treasure those photos," she said. "Things change. The environment changes, families change, but photos will bring them back."

Dutch-born Ans clearly feels a strong connection with Maori, an affection that is displayed in her images. In 1967 she published a book ('Maori') that focused on the East Coast, then most densely populated by Maori, but in later years she looked north, perhaps thanks to the fact that she had shared a Wellington flat with Ana Karena, who was born and bred in the Far North and is still living (and teaching) there today.

The world Ans captured with her camera three decades ago was very different to today's, although some Maori were still living very similar lives to those of their parents. She was very supportive of a variety of Maori causes, including the need to accept that current generations are but guardians of the land.

"We're not doing a very good job, are we?" she asked.

She also believed in the need to nurture te reo, although even given the recent renaissance of Maori language and culture a great deal of the "old Maori" had been lost, and tribal dialects made the task much more difficult.

Her photographs, meanwhile, were instantly familiar to those who know the Far North well, and redolent of times gone by. Her favourite, in a collection that ranged from the famous (Dame Whina Cooper) to the completely unknown, portrayed a young Jason Karena submitting himself to the hair clippers wielded by Genny Karena, cigarette clamped in the corner of his mouth, at Hikurangi in 1982.

If Ans' photos lean towards the mundane, it is there their real value lies.

"From the 1960s Maori began going through a cultural change so many were even now vanishing to Australia and adopting certain European ways, but very few people were recording what was happening in the communities themselves as this change progressed," she said before mounting her exhibition in Kaitaia.

"Most images of Maori had a strong tourism angle with their ceremonies and costumes, which was not their entire culture.

"I was fortunate to be invited into homes and on to marae, capturing images that showed what was really happening. I feel I'm the holder of real treasure."

She also has an eye to the future, however. Ans' latest book, 'Our Future Nga Tau ki Muri,' features 137 of her photographs from the past 20 years, accompanied by commentary from poets and politicians.

"The purpose of the book is to give a directive to Aotearoa, an awareness of things changed and lost within its short history, and at this point in time call a halt to hasty decision-making," she said.