Maori woman, Rotorua, New Zealand

This photograph depicts an unidentified young Maori woman of unknown tribal affiliation. It was taken by the New Zealand photographer Arthur James Iles in Rotorua in the early 20th century. It is one of a series of twenty studio portraits of Maori taken by Iles in Museum Victoria's collections. A professional photographer active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Iles photographed a range of subjects including people, landscapes, historical and tourist sites as well as indigenous flora and fauna. Iles's specialisation was portraiture, particularly of the Maori population. Maori life had been a common subject among photographers since the 1850s. Popular with the non-Indigenous population, several categories of Maori pictures dominated the market. These included nostalgic depictions of 'beauties' and 'noble warriors' and the re-enactment of pre-contact life. The emergence of postcards around the beginning of the 20th century resulted in a resurgence in the production of photographs of Maori.

A business man, Iles recognised this renewed interest in Maori culture. He drew on established subjects, photographing senior men and young women. Iles's efforts to attract Maori to his studios were aided by two factors. Firstly his association with Captain Gilbert Mair, a highly regarded captain of Maori troops loyal to the colonial government, facilitated visits by Maori community. Secondly, his marriage to Rebecca Elsie Utuatonga, a Maori woman, is likely to have assisted him to encourage young women to be photographed.

In this photograph, the woman is wearing a kahu huruhuru [feather cloak], a style of kakahu [Maori cloak]. Feather cloaks became popular in the latter half of the 19th century. During this period weavers experimented with new materials such as the feathers of non-indigenous species. For example, this cloak incorporates the feathers of the guineafowl (Numida meleagris), an introduced bird common in New Zealand.