Kinship x {Suite}

 {Suite} is pleased to collaborate with Kinship to present this display of Ans Westra prints.

Born in Leiden, the Netherlands, Anna Jacoba (Ans) Westra CNZM (1936 - 2023) used a medium-format, waist-level viewfinder camera for most of her life. She began taking photographs in 1954 as a hobby, inspired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art landmark touring exhibition The Family of Man. In 1957, aged twenty-one, she arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand to visit her father, who had earlier migrated here.

Ans is best known for her images depicting life in New Zealand and in particular te ao Maori. From the 1960’s onwards, Ans spent long periods of time travelling around the country as a full-time freelance documentary photographer, working mainly for the Department of Education and Te Ao Hou, a Maori magazine published by the Government. Committed to observing and expressively documenting life and culture, her candid images capture people at work and play, old and young, rural and urban.   

In 2014 a project commenced between {Suite} and the National Library of New Zealand to catalogue Ans’ complete archive, estimated to be 320,000 images (film plus digital). Following her passing, Ans’ work and print archive is now housed in a large vault in a historical building in Central Wellington, accessible for both art and educational purposes.

 To see more of Ans' images click here