Ans Westra

The noted photographer Ans Westra has died at the age of 86. She was regarded as one of New Zealand's most important documentary photographers.

"We used to have our lives so much more out of doors, in sports fields," she said. Her most famous and controversial work was "Washday At The Pa" which was photographed in 1964. She arrived in New Zealand in 1957, armed with a Diploma of Arts and Crafts Teaching and her camera, to visit her father who had settled in Auckland.

Dutch-born Westra was regarded as one of New Zealand's most important documentary photographers.

"We used to have our lives so much more out of doors, in sports fields," she said. Westra said she was perplexed by the uproar. She arrived in New Zealand in 1957, armed with a Diploma of Arts and Crafts Teaching and her camera, to visit her father who had settled in Auckland.

Photographer Ans Westra, whose work has preserved aspects of Maori life for more than 60 years, has died at the age of 86. Westra was born in Leiden in The ...

Westra was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998 for her services to photography and in 2007, the Arts Foundation named her as one of its Icon Artists. Westra was born in Leiden in The Netherlands in 1936 and came to New Zealand in 1957 to visit her father, who had settled in Auckland. Her 1964 book on a Ruatoria family, Washday at the Pa, was printed and then pulped by School Publications after complaints from the Maori Women’s Welfare League about its depiction of rural poverty.

Documentary photographer Ans Westra died on Sunday. Aaron Smale reflects on her work and significance.

She captured the start of a trajectory we are still on but are still coming to terms with. But the League was acutely aware of Pākehā perceptions and was trying to uplift Māori families who were facing discrimination and poverty in their new urban environment. The impression I got of her was a quiet, mild-mannered lady who still had a heavy Dutch accent and a love for her subjects. One of her best-known projects, Wash-Day at the Pā, created an unwelcome controversy that must have been distressing for the introverted photographer who preferred not to draw attention to herself. I watched her work from a distance as she quietly and unobtrusively glided around, stopping to look down through the viewfinder, exposing the large format film to capture images that invariably combined a beautiful balance and composition with exquisite timing. Westra died on Sunday but she left behind one of the most significant archives of images of this country’s history.