Name: Photography, place, and influence: The camera and its complex relationships in early Aotearoa
Start: 2025-04-03T18:00:00+13:00
End: 2025-04-03T19:30:00+13:00
Location: Corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand 6011

Photography, place, and influence: The camera and its complex relationships in early Aotearoa

Join Professor of History Angela Wanhalla (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) and Shaun Higgins the co-curator of the exhibition ‘A Different Light’, exploring the production and reception of photographic images both of and for mana whenua in the context of settler-colonialism in Aotearoa.
Can't make it in person? This event will also be delivered using Zoom. Register to attend this talk, and we'll send you the link to use on the day: https://dia-nz.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Y-ACWxP4SS29d0UD_JQa2g
Mana whenua and photography
The exhibition, A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa, tells a story about how photography became a critical part of the social, economic and political fabric of Aotearoa.
Join Professor of History Angela Wanhalla (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) and co-curator of A Different Light, Shaun Higgins, for this kōrerō exploring the production and reception of photographic images both of and for mana whenua in the context of settler-colonialism in Aotearoa.
Visit A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery: https://www.adamartgallery.nz/exhibitions/current/a-different-light-first-photographs-of-aotearoa
Focus on Photography
Part of Focus on Photography a collaboration between the National Library, City Gallery Wellington, and Adam Art Gallery, celebrating historic and contemporary photography in Aotearoa. Through a series of exhibitions and events, it highlights the medium’s ability to document, reflect, and transform the way we see the world.
About the speaker
Angela Wanhalla (Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki, Ngāi Tahu, Pākehā) is a professor of history at the University of Otago. She has published on Māori history, as well as on the history of photography in Aotearoa. Her publications include Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand (Auckland University Press, 2013) and, with Lachy Paterson, He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women’s Voices from the Nineteenth Century (Auckland University Press, 2017). She has co-edited a number of essay collections, including The Lives of Colonial Objects (Otago University Press, 2015) with Annabel Cooper and Lachy Paterson, and Early New Zealand Photography: Images and Essays (Otago University Press, 2011) with Erika Wolf.
Image: [Detail] Group at Te Karaka kāinga, c. 1890s, by Henry Wright. Ref: 1/1-020634-G. Alexander Turnbull Library.