Fast-vanishing way of life
An upcoming photo exhibition captures a vanished era — and a vanishing way of life — in North Hokianga. The 200 images in Common Ground were taken over a 10-year period, from 1984-94, by Kohukohu photographer Marg Morrow.
Her project had its genesis in the plethora of PEP (Project Employment Programme) schemes designed to get people back into the workforce during the economic malaise of the mid1980s.
In Morrow’s case, she was employed by the then Hokianga County Council to document the people of North Hokianga over a sixmonth period.
“I got a teacher’s salary. It was a dream job for me, and an extraordinary thing for the council to do,” she said.
Until that point Morrow was known for her landscape photos and had done little portrait work.
However, she threw herself into the project and photographed everyone she could, everywhere she could.
“I went to every hui, every function at marae and schools. I went to the horse races at Pawarenga and Mitimiti.
“I went to the unemployment hui at Mangataipa, the hui waiata at Mangamuka, forestry hui, and the Broadwood A&P Show,” she said.
“It was a real time of change in Hokianga, political change. Te reo was just starting to show its face and land issues were coming to the fore. I photographed everybody and everything that was happening,” she said.
After six months the pay stopped but Morrow kept going.
“I carried on for the next 10 years, unpaid. I couldn’t resist. I got really involved in the politics of Hokianga . . . I also wanted to photograph ordinary people, painting their houses, working in their gardens, hanging out with the kids. I had no grand vision at the time. I just wanted to photograph my community.”
Originally from Christchurch, Morrow had arrived in Hokianga a few years earlier, part of an exodus of hippies and alternative lifestylers from the cities seeking a purer way of life in rural New Zealand.
She soon realised the Māori community
embodied many of the values she was seeking, but also had a strength and commitment to the whānau that fascinated her.
At times her project ran into resistance but each time the late Father Tate of Motut¯ı lent his support and
she was able to carry on.
“At that time Hokianga hadn’t changed much. It was still very isolated. In one way it was disappearing but in another it wasn’t.
“The Māori of Hokianga have such a strong identity.”
Morrow’s black and white images were taken on 35mm film and originally printed in her home darkroom, although the photos on display were scanned from negatives and digitally printed on silver halide paper.
The exhibition consists of 186 portraits and 14 landscapes chosen from thousands of images taken over the project’s 10-year period.
Common Ground will run from October 22 to November 27 at Village Arts in Kohukohu.
The gallery is open from 10am to 4pm seven days a week.