Image credit: Te Kawa Robb
Naenae College
Rangatahi
A nationwide, photography project for young people, focussing on climate change.
Good storytelling can change minds. The power of a photograph lies in the way it engages our imagination and involves us in an unfolding story.
Photographers
Te Kawa Robb
Te werowero – The challenge
Confronted by the scale of waste metal during our field trip with Naenae College, Annie (foreground) and Iona’s expression speak to the weight of the issue around us, the wasteful behaviours, and the reality of how much needs to change in order for us to tackle climate change.
E tipu e rea – Grow up tender young shoot
While it’s critical to confront the scale of climate change, and see what work needs to be done, many of the tools and solutions are already in our hands. The seeds of knowledge and the skills that go with them are how we support our future generations to be prepared and love differently to previous generations. For tangata whenua, these skills are connected to our whakapapa, our identity, and are the best starting point for climate change solutions.
Te Tūmanako – Hope
As we watched our young people look at the world, explore their place as part of the taiao, during the Through The Lens workshops with Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna, we saw that despite the challenges ahead of us, there was hope in their eyes, and heard about their aspirations for their grandchildren. Hemaima-te-wai’s gaze into the ngahere, framed by the rākau representing the interconnected ancestral knowledge systems, spoke of this hope and the tools we can draw on to achieve these aspirations.
He kai kei aku ringa – The food in my hands
Artist self-portrait gathering kai from the coast around Te Motukairangi. Sustainable harvesting and gathering of food is one of the most important tools we have to combat climate change. These practices help us connect to the taiao, to our ancestral knowledge systems, that aren’t possible when we consume from supermarkets and industrialised food processes. Practicing these skills is an act of tino rangatiratanga – self-determination – and enhances our resilience and food sovereignty.
Chevron Hassett
Salt water tears (Dyptich)
‘We sweat and cry salt water, so we know that the ocean is really in our blood’
Dr Teresia Teaiwa
As Indigenous peoples and people of the Pacific, our relationships to the whenua, moana, whanau and the wider region are essential to our existences and identities. As Indigenous peoples, we are part of the communities who have committed the least towards climate change, though are among the communities who are forced to be at the forefront of experiencing the growing impacts and issues.
