Photography within te ao Māori: Decolonising the photographic lens

Abstract

Ūkaipō: Wānanga, places of origin and photographic representation. Ūkaipō recognises the cultural, emotional, and spiritual along with the physical ties a Māori has with their place of origin, even if it is not their place of birth, emphasising grounded forms of connection between people and place and subsequent understandings of places and spaces. Hence the importance today of people asserting their pēpeha, tohu whenua landmarks with which they most strongly identify, consolidating their ‘birth of place’ or ‘place of birth’.