13 July – 4 November 2007

William A. Sutton and Ravenscar Galleries

Best known for her portrayal of Maori social, cultural and political life, this photographic journey captured by Ans Westra is a challenging and revealing record of the growth of our nation over nearly half a century of change.

The comfortable conformity of late 1940s and 1950s New Zealand was forever changed with the post-war arrival of European migrants and the urban shift of Maori. It was a time when Maori and Pakeha had to interact widely for the first time. As a society, New Zealand and its citizens were far from prepared to accommodate the difficulties accompanying such a challenge to their homogenous cultural, social and institutional frameworks.

Ans Westra's arrival in New Zealand in 1957 coincided with that shift, and her life-long record of photographs show how the resultant changes and tensions have continued to characterise our nation’s social and cultural evolution.

Handboek comprises a gallery of Ans Westra's most revealing and challenging documentary images, taking us on a remarkable photographic journey of the growth of a nation.

Extract taken from Bulletin 148 Autumn: March - May 2007.

Based on the Alexander Turnbull Library collections and organised by BWX (Blair Wakefield Exhibitions) in association with the National Library Gallery.

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