Whakapapa (Figure 1 from Tangata~Whenua series)

Barbara Maria Williams — mother of Toiroa Williams and descendant of Te Whakatōhea — seated before the family angel wall at Hinewai Farm, Ōpōtiki, Aotearoa New Zealand (38°00′10.7″S 177°13′57.6″E). This image opens the Tangata~Whenua photopoetic series, naming the genealogical ground from which the entire work proceeds.

Whakatauākī: He uri nō Te Whakatōhea — I am a descendant of Whakatōhea.

Part of the Tangata~Whenua collaborative photopoetic project examining negotiated authorship and cross-cultural photographic practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. The project pairs long-exposure landscape photographs of Te Whakatōhea whenua with whakatauākī (ancestral proverbs) and audio purākau (narrative voice-overs in te reo Māori and English).

Cultural authority: Toiroa Williams (Te Whakatōhea).
Photograph: Marcos Mortensen Steagall.
Purākau and whakatauākī: Toiroa Arapeta Williams.