Ans Westra
Ans Westra was a Dutch-born New Zealand photographer, well-known for her depictions of Māori life in the 20th century. She was a forerunner of both documentary photography and female photographers in Aotearoa.
Anna Jacoba Westra (known as Ans Westra) (1936 to 2023) was born in Leiden, Holland and completed a Diploma in Textile Arts at Industrieschool voor Meisjes, Rotterdam. Much of her early work was for the School Publications Branch of the Department of Education and ‘Te Ao Hou’.
Ans Westra immigrated to New Zealand in 1957 and became a self-taught, full-time photographer in the early 1960s. Raising 3 children largely as a solo parent, Westra’s photography for the ‘School Journal’ helped provide an income, allowing her to pursue documentary work.
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![An old woman wearing white white hair, wearing a red shirt holds a lens camera in her hands]()
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A forerunner of both documentary photography and female photographers in Aotearoa New Zealand, Westra would look down into a Rolliflex camera, hanging at her waist. Without a camera between her face and those of her subjects Westra was able to capture spontaneous and unposed shots.
A major exhibition of her work ‘Handboek: Ans Westra photographs’ opened at the National Library Gallery in 2004. This went on to tour around major centres in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as the Museum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden. Westra became an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon artist (2007), was awarded the Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit for services to photography (2008) and received an honorary doctorate from Massey University in recognition of her long-standing contribution to New Zealand’s visual culture (2015).
The majority of her archive of negatives are held at the National Library and can be accessed online following a digitisation project between her agent, Suite Tirohanga, and the National Library. Cataloguing of her image archive — comprising over 300,000 images — will be completed between 2025 and 2026.
The images here are less candid than her usual style and illustrate a story from the ‘Ready to Read’ edition ‘Giant Soup’ (1984), and the ‘School Journal Story Library’ book, ‘No Boots’ (1986).
Ans Westra's artworks for the ‘School Journal’
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![A woman with short hair wearing full sleeves purple shirt and a white cardigan on the top, a boy bending down on a bed]()
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![A young boy sitting on a bed with his face resting on his two hands looking sad, a book shelf at the back]()
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![A young boy looking out of a glass window, a boy standing outside and looking at him]()
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![Two boys wearing a yellow and blue striped t shirt and shorts sitting on a bed, a book case with books at the back]()
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![A boy wearing a blue and yellow striped shirt holding a bike, standing outside a house]()
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![A young boy sitting on the right of a glass window with a white curtain, sun shining through the window]()
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![A young boy peeping out of a half open glass window and talking to another boy standing outside]()
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![One boy sitting on a staircase, another boy standing and holding a drink bottle and a dog sitting in the front]()
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![Two boys wearing blue and yellow striped shirts walking a road, one holding a bike in his hands]()
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![A boy standing outside a glass window with his left hand touching the glass]()
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![A boy wearing blue shirt is sitting on a kitchen floor polishing his black shoes and a woman with short hair and wearing shirt and pant standing in front of him]()
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![A boy sleeping on a bed with a duvet, a man and a woman standing on his right lifting the duvet]()
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![A woman with short hair and white shirt pointing towards a bed, a bearded man standing on the right]()
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![A woman with shorthair wearing a purple long sleeves shirt and white top standing in a kitchen, a bearded man standing in front of her]()
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![A boy climbing through an open window, a plant below the window]()
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![A boy peeping out of an open glass window, another boy standing outside holding a bike in his hands]()
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![A boy wearing a yellow and blue striped shirt running on an uphill road with houses in the background]()
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![A woman with short hair wearing a full sleeves purple shirt and white top standing in a kitchen talking to a bearded man wearing a checkered shirt]()
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![Two boys wearing blue and yellow striped shirts sitting on a bed smiling at each other]()
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![Two young boys wearing blue and yellow stripes shirts sitting on a bed]()
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![A woman with short hair wearing a purple long sleeves shirt and a white top trying to wake up a boy sleeping on a bed]()
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![A woman with short hair wearing a purple full sleeves shirt and white top bending and touching a boy sleeping on a bed covering his face with his two hands]()
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![A young boy wearing a blue and yellow striped shirt and white shorts is standing on a road holding a bike in his hands. Another boy jumping out of a window]()
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![A boy in blue shirt sitting on a kitchen floor polishing his shoes while a woman with short hair wearing a purple full sleeves shirt and white top standing in front of him]()
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