Two Cambridge photographers are taking a modern-day twist on traditional colonial-style imagery, connecting today’s generation of Māori to their ancestral past.
Started in 2013, Soldiers Road portraits are the brainchild of sisters-in-law Vienna and Taaniko Nordstrom. Their portraits have gone on to soar in popularity here and across the ditch.
They also recently did a groundbreaking woman’s magazine cover shoot, featuring nine of the country’s brightest stars in celebration of Matariki.
“For a majority of New Zealanders, they don’t know what Matariki is. So it’s awesome to be able to bring a little bit of that knowledge and understanding,” Vienna told Seven Sharp.
But it’s not always glitz and glam for the duo, as for the last five years they’ve been using their skills to help rehabilitate inmates at the Te Ao Mārama Unit at Waikeria Prison.
Along with the portraits, the inmates are encouraged to write a letter to their ancestors to be displayed in an exhibition celebrating their graduation from the Tirohanga Programme.
For the prisoners, it’s been a “life changer”.
“This is where we’re supposed to be. Yes, the Mahi that we’re supposed to be doing,” one said.
Yesterday was the first time the inmates got to view their works, which can’t be displayed publicly due to laws around privacy.
“We tell them, you know like one day you’re going to be someone’s tupuna and what kind of legacy to you want to leave,” said Vienna.
“We hope that’s how we can kind of translate and show an inmate the mana in our men, that they’re worth it, that they have value, that we believe that they have value and if we believe then soon they will too,” Taaniko told Seven Sharp.
The men will keep the portraits as a reminder of their newly discovered potential.
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