In responding to A Different Light, Stephens is reminded of the importance of acknowledging one’s positionality; who is behind the camera matters just as much as who is in front. Pondering the intent of many of the early pākehā settler photographers and ethnographers in Aotearoa – Stephens wonders what worldviews and understandings met in the space between the photographer and the photographed. What power dynamics were at play? How did these differences in belief systems inform how these photographs were framed? In this talk Stephens will draw on her interest in photography’s role in colonisation, that has shaped her approach as an Indigenous photographer, to explore two terms vital to this discourse: mana and mauri.

Maija Stephens (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rangi) is a lens-based artist and photographer. She currently works as the Toi Kaiārahi at Toi Matarau Art Gallery in Ōtaki, committed to uplifting the voices as well as holding space for the toi of iwi taketake o te ao. An integral part of Stephens’ photographic practice is the process of decolonisation and indigenisation. Her work explores issues concerning Te Taiao, Kaitiakitanga, Whakapapa, and Ngā Atua Māori. Through her distinctive engagement with both the camera and her subjects, Stephens reframes her practice with the intent to indigenise the medium of photography itself. Describing her process as ritualistic, Stephens constantly draws from ancestral knowledge to inform how she utilises a contemporary tool.

This series of talks, developed in collaboration with artist and educator Caroline McQuarrie, brings local contemporary lens-based artists into dialogue with A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa. Each artist has been invited to offer their response to particular photographs. Drawing on their own approaches, whakapapa and interests, these artists offer fresh and varied insights into the political, social and technological dynamics of photography and its implicit relationship to settler-colonialism in Aotearoa.