Author Description

"As the photographer Bill Brandt observed, a good portrait tells the subject's past, present and future. Photographs of indigenous peoples living in the path of rapid colonial expansion can be particularly evocative. Many of the images with exploitative, voyeuristic or demeaning. However, among the mass of photographs taken of Māori from the Māori Wars to the Second World War (one lifetime), there are some in which the voices of the sitters can be heard. These are photographs in which the humanity of the subjects transcends the stereotype, opening windows into how it was then, both in front of and behind, the lens."--BOOK JACKET.