Deme Te Atawhai Scott-McGregor

Wā Kāinga reflects the concept of a colonised relationship with self.  This project reflects my previously unacknowledged feelings of detachment between my true self and who I feel I am expected to be. These feelings pass like ripples in water through generations, this is acknowledged in this project through the use of archival material and my own photographs of whānau. Furthermore, I am exploring the past, present and future of my Marae alongside my own detachment from my whakapapa and my connections with my people today. My Project focuses on site as a mode of exploring self and the experience of decolonising the gaze as an act of liberation. ‘Wā Kāinga follows a photographic journey in regaining a cultural independence through photographing the distance many Māori feel from their whakapapa.  Showcasing how relationships with a physical place can regain matauranga whānau. As a photographer, it intended that this project is situated within both Māori and Pākehā worlds in order to reclaim and ground my Tikanga.