ANS WESTRA
1936-2023, NetherlandsAns Westra is one of the premier photographers in Aotearoa, and her almost 40-year-long engagement with the representation of Maori culture is a substantial addition to cross-cultural visual culture in the twentieth century.
Westra is responsible for the most comprehensive documentation of Māori culture over 55 years of significant political and cultural change. Born in Leiden, the Netherlands, Westra immigrated to New Zealand in 1957. Her prominence as an artist was amplified by her photo series Washday at the Pa, 1963. Westra holds Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit (CNZM) for services to photography (1998) and in 2007 received an Arts Foundation Icon Award.
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