Puaki
The photographic exhibition ‘Puaki’ starkly depicts how colonisers can erase a culture - and how, against all odds, it can come back.
One of the earliest photographic processes is ingeniously employed to capture the resurgence of the art form of tā moko (Māori facial tattoo). Māori are the tangata whenua, the indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The name of the exhibition, ‘Puaki’, means ‘to come forth, show itself, open out, emerge, reveal, to give testimony.’ In Māori culture, it is believed everyone has a tā moko under the skin, just waiting to be revealed.
When photographs of tā moko were originally taken in the 1850s, the tattoos barely appeared due to the wet-plate photographic method used by European settlers. So this cultural marker was erased, and as the years went by, this proved true in real life.
The collodion wet plate process requires glass plates to be coated, sensitised, exposed, and developed within about fifteen minutes, necessitating a portable darkroom. This process offers a fascinating insight into the origins of photography - how history was shaped and potentially distorted through the lens, and what this meant for colonialism.
In this exhibition, two portraits of each person are shown side-by-side. The wet-plate medium acknowledges the colonial period of New Zealand’s history and the suppression of Māori. The digital photos show where the country is today and the promise of where it could go.
Puaki forms an important social documentary about the Māori people who proudly choose to wear tā moko and its place in modern society.
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Robert Ruha
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Priscilla Ruha
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Murray Te Hira (MacDonald)
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Whare Isaac-Sharland
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Rawiri Hamiora Pene
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Tangimoe Clay
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Orine Gillies
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Te Kahautu Maxwell
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Naomi Tracey Robinson
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Tunuiarangi Rangi McLean
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Kohe Vanessa Pene
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Kingi Taurua
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Gary Shane Te Ruki
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Paora Rangiaho
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Pouroto Nicholas Hamilton Ngaropo
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Sharessa Love