Award-winning photographer’s work on display at Gallery

10 August 2007

Christchurch residents are currently being treated to an exhibition of photographs by one of the five New Zealand artists who were this week honoured for their lifetime of significant artistic achievement.

Ans Westra, a major survey of whose work is being exhibited at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu until 4 November, was honoured for her 50-years of documentary photography with an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award.

Westra was brought into the public eye in 1964 with the Department of Education’s publication Washday at the Pa. Westra is most known for her photographs of Maori, the 1970s counterculture and protest action.

Gallery Director Jenny Harper says Handboek: Ans Westra Photographs currently at the Gallery is a comprehensive selection of works from Westra’s prolific career.

“We are thrilled at the announcement of Ans Westra’s well-deserved award and congratulate her along with the Arts Foundation.  It is a happy co-incidence that Handboek is here at the moment. The show is both revealing and reminiscent and we are pleased to be providing Christchurch residents and visitors with the opportunity to see works by a leading photographer whose work has been recognised nationally with an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award.”

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