ANS WESTRA – URBAN DRIFT
2020-01-06Ans Westra is responsible for the most comprehensive documentation of Māori culture over a 60 year period of significant political and cultural change in New Zealand. Regarded for their realism and spontaneity, Westra’s images bear witness to the post-war urban drift of historically rural Māori as they moved to urban areas and began living in a very different world, alongside Pākehā (New Zealand Europeans), often for the first time.
Between 1945 and 1986, the proportion of Māori living in New Zealand cities grew from 26% to nearly 80%. This deliberate urban migration fueled by industrialization, employment opportunities, and the allure of a ‘modern’ lifestyle, has been described as the most rapid migratory movement of any population.
Opposite – West Coast Road, West Coast, 1971
Exhibition runs through to February 22nd, 2020
Anastasia Photo
143 Ludlow Street
New York
10002 NY
