Maori women, New Zealand

This photograph depicts two unidentified Maori women of unknown tribal affiliation. It was taken by the New Zealand photographer Arthur James Iles. 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 mid 19th century. 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 women are wearing hei tiki or figurative neck pendants. Carved from pounamu [greenstone or nephrite], hei tiki are taonga [cultural treasures]. The pendants are often imbued with mana [power, prestige]. Whilst their exact meaning remains uncertain, they are commonly associated with fertility. The women are dressed in different styles of kakahu [Maori cloaks]. The woman on the left wears a kahu kiwi [kiwi feather cloak], the most highly regarded of kahu huruhuru [feather cloaks]. Feather cloaks became popular in the latter half of the 19th century. The woman on the right wears a korowai [cloak with hukahuka or tassels]. The korowai was a popular style of cloak emerging in the early 19th century. Its origins are in the pake, rain capes formed with multiple layers of flat strips of flax. Over time these flax strips became increasingly decorative in purpose, their functional form being replaced by hukahuka. The korowai worn by the woman on the right is an example of this new focus on aesthetics.