An Aotearoa legacy _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

For the final three months of 2024, {Suite} Wellington will celebrate the life and work of photographer Ans Westra with a series of exhibitions and community initiatives. When asked what spurred this endeavour, {Suite} owner and director David Alsop says that Westra’s work could be celebrated for a lifetime. “This programme is intended to highlight the diversity and breadth of her practice”.

An opportunity to see a more complete picture of the renowned Dutch-born photographer known for depicting life in Aotearoa, the exhibition and initiatives will showcase Westra’s New Zealand catalogue, which is now widely thought of as a photo album of the nation, as well as her landscape shots from the 2000s and lesser-known international collections. Much of the work will have been previously unseen and align with a public programme of talks and events.

October will focus on Westra’s significant contribution to learning and education in Aotearoa and her involvement in school publications in the 60s, which have left a lasting legacy on our social history. Each of the three exhibitions will showcase prints from school publications. Accessible at {Suite} Wellington, Viliami of the Friendly Islands will run until the 10^th followed by Holiday in the Capital from the 11^th to the 19^th and Children of Holland from the 25^th to the 31^st, plus a panel discussion on the 9^th in regards to Westra’s contribution to education.

November showcases Westra’s global views and her astute observations of other people and cultures, which deepened her interest in wider social and political matters. Two bodies of work from the 80s will be on display at {Suite} Wellington, with her New York City collection running from the 1^st to the 10^th followed by The Philippines from the 11^th to the 20^th. To accompany this exhibition, and commenting on our place in the world, international legal academic professor Alexander Gillespie will give a talk on the 7^th.

December is dedicated to a city-wide campaign to identify more people portrayed in Westra’s 64 years of social documentary photography. In 2014, a project commenced with the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to digitise the vast archive. Free access to her images was extremely important to Westra. The digital archive is an ongoing organic project, with new image information continually recorded and updated. With this comes a constant effort to identify people in the photographs. On the 21^st, Westra’s daughter Lisa van Hulst will lead a kōrero about the Nō hea koe? Ko wai koe? project with National Library photography curator Louise Garret, research librarian Suliana Vea, and WCC Māori arts and events facilitator Suzanne Tamaki.

Visitors can also check out the Ans Westra Vault at the National Library to see the photographer’s permanent display of negatives, cameras, publications, and more. This celebration hopes to inspire visitors to think about the importance of central records and photography as a way to preserve history. When it comes to her legacy, Alsop says that Westra has shown “a lifetime of commitment to documenting New Zealand culture... Ans seemed to be everywhere”.