“I KNEW THE MĀORI’S”

Duration: 3m 31sec

This project is a documentation of reconnection through still imagery, moving image and archival images. Through the process of retracing and reconnecting, I met with my great grandmother who holds our Māori bloodline for the first time. Speaking with her, hearing the stories of growing up Māori, and seeing the minimal taonga she has kept from her childhood has helped me understand how much knowledge my family is missing in our whakapapa.

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Reciting your whakapapa is a sacred skill, exercised through years of acknowledgement and understanding. When one mother decided to give up her children in the 1950’s, meant her children’s whakapapa was concealed for generations to come. Influences from my grandmother’s adoption, and my own mother’s passing have been foundations in this project. Investigating people and place, helps piece together a missing whakapapa.