Maori Art: The Photography of Brian Brake

Brian Brake, with foreword by Witi Ihimaera and introduction by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku

Raupo - $45

‘Indeed, if you close your eyes and think of Maori traditional art ornaments and other objects I would suggest that the images that come to your inner eye are not the objects themselves but, rather, Brian’s photographs of them. Through the camera lens he found a way of showing ourselves to ourselves.’ – Witi Ihimaera

‘Brake was a tohunga of light and texture; of colour and shadow.’ – Ngahuia Te Awekotuku

Maori artefacts and ornaments are sacred objects that can be seen in many museums around the country. At times they can be hidden in back rooms or behind glass casing, their beauty and presence not always accessible. The photography of Brian Brake changed all this. In particular, Brake managed to show the strength and beauty of Maori objects, giving them a timelessness that only his stark, contemporary photographs could do.

Witi Ihimaera, a personal friend of Brian Brake’s, believes that Brake’s iconic images are crucial to Maori culture and that they have captured the essence of Maoridom. ‘Brian saw what Maori saw: the living object, the wairua that all Maori know resides in wood, in greenstone, in whalebone, in bird feather. It is this wairua that he sought. Not just beauty – and seeing beauty and photographing beauty are, of course, two different matters, and not easily done. No, he sought that something else, the talismanic quality that resides within every object in our world.’

The photos in this collection, first published in 2003, constitute the best of Brake’s photographic journey into the world of the Maori. Drawn from work completed for an array of commissions, the images include both those that travelled the world and those rarely seen before. Iconic images of Uenuku (the symbol meaning Rainbow and the cover photograph for the book) and Pukaki take their place alongside representations of humble objects.

Taken as a whole, they form a celebration of diversity and richness in artistic expression, encompassing carved houses and woven panels, sculpture and tools, ornaments and jewellery, ritual objects and weapons. They are bold, have texture and the perspective, lighting and use of shadow is simply extraordinary. Brake has paved the way in museum, and catalogue photography until this day.

The two pieces shown above are from the Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tamaki Paenga Hira.

The Bookman is so pleased to see this beautiful and important book back in print. Bravo! And what a bargain at $45.00.

About the photographer:

Brian Brake (left circa 1954) was born in Wellington in 1927 and educated in Christchurch. Brake was involved in photography and film making from an early age and went on to become New Zealand’s most successful and prestigious photojournalist overseas. Brake was invited by Henri Cartier-Bresson to join the exclusive Magnum Photos agency in 1955. Brake became a freelancer, with photo essay contributions in magazines such as Life and National Geographic.
In 1974 he was commissioned by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand to photograph indigenous art and artefacts from museums around the South Pacific, many of those images are contained in this collection.
Brake’s profile meant a new international audience for Maori art was possible. In 1984 an exhibition of work entitled Te Maori: Maori Art from New Zealand Collections opened in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and travelled to three other US cities before returning to tour New Zealand. The exhibition was deemed a major success. Brian Brake passed away in Auckland 1988.

A retrospective exhibition of Brian Brake’s work is touring galleries around New Zealand until 2014. It is currently at Te Papa until May where it will then move onto Auckland Art Gallery from June 2011 until August 2011.