Latest news with #TaniwhaChasers
RNZ News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Photographing life around Ōpōtiki
The winner of the 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award Jazmin Tainui Mihi Paget-Knebel with her winning photo Taniwha Chasers. Photo: RNZ/Pokere Paewai Photographer Jazmin Tainui Mihi Paget-Knebel recently won the Kīingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award. The 22-year-old of Te Whānau a Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine descent won for a striking frame of a child on horseback - and if you look at her instagram page you'll see many such insights into life around Ōpōtiki. She talks to Mihi and Susie.
The Spinoff
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Kīngi Tūheitia Portraiture Award winner Jazmin Paget-Knebel is reframing the Māori image
The young East Coast photographer is turning her lens toward whakapapa, whenua and the future of Māori portraiture. When 22-year-old photographer Jazmin Tainui Mihi Paget-Knebel got the call to say she had won the 2025 Kīngi Tuheitia Portraiture Award, she was on campus, preparing her assignments for submission. 'It was hand-in week,' she laughs. 'I thought they were just calling to ask me to do media or something.' But behind the call were the judges themselves – and they had unanimously chosen her image, Taniwha Chasers, as the winner of the prestigious $20,000 prize. Shot on a beach in Ōpōtiki, the photograph is a striking black-and-white portrait of a rangatahi on horseback, galloping across the sand, tino rangatiratanga flag raised, hooves pounding. It's cinematic, but real. Bold, yet unpretentious. 'I didn't stage anything,' she explains. 'I just put the word out to my cousins, asked whoever was keen to bring their horses to the beach, and gave them the freedom to ride how they wanted. The flag was something I had with me – one of the boys chucked it on a stick and took off.' For Paget-Knebel, Taniwha Chasers is more than a portrait. It's a reclamation. 'Horses were brought here as tools of colonisation – but in our town, they've become a source of pride. They're part of us now.' The judges agreed, calling the work 'uplifting, joyful… full of hope and youthful energy' and praising its powerful message about the ongoing reclamation of whakapapa and whenua. Born and raised in the coastal township of Ōmaio, Paget-Knebel has whakapapa back to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine. She was homeschooled by her mum and took up photography at age 12 as a way of exploring her environment. 'Growing up surrounded by te taiao, by the moana – I had this instinct to document it. It was an outlet.' At 16, she attended a National Geographic photo camp in Murupara. 'That changed everything. I realised photography could be a way to explore and express my Māoritanga, not just aesthetics.' Since then, her focus has been unapologetically kaupapa Māori – reframing the camera as a tool for re-indigenising perspective. 'Photography has long been a colonial weapon,' she says. 'I'm here to shift that. We deserve to see ourselves in our own light.' Now in the final year of a photography honours degree at Massey University, Paget-Knebel is already thinking ahead. Next year, she hopes to enrol in a full-immersion te reo Māori course. 'I want to ground myself in our language before anything else,' she says. 'This win kind of flipped my plans – but in a good way. The future is bright. I just want to keep making meaningful work.' Her influences range from icons like Lisa Reihana and Fiona Pardington to the toi Māori on her own marae. 'There's inspiration everywhere. Even our activists – people like Hana-Rawhiti [Maipi-Clarke, Te Pāti Māori MP] – push me to think about how our art fits into our wider struggle for sovereignty.' Asked what she'd most love to photograph next, Paget-Knebel shares a powerful vision. 'Right now, I'm working on a project about our atua – trying to depict them through a photographic lens that honours their complexity. Not humanising them the way we've been taught to. Just showing them as they are, in our stories.' She also dreams of connecting with other indigenous communities around the world. 'It's not just about Māori,' she says. 'I want to document the beauty in how our people relate across oceans – how we hold each other up.' Despite the sudden wave of attention – media interviews, high-profile messages, hundreds of social media notifications – Paget-Knebel remains grounded. 'I've been overwhelmed by the love. But at the end of the day, I'm just a girl from Ōmaio, trying to tell the stories that matter.' At the awards ceremony at Pipitea Marae in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Jazmin stepped on stage in a pair of red bands – the unofficial footwear of the East Coast. 'We're born in them,' she jokes. 'I wanted to carry home with me.' And with Taniwha Chasers, she did just that – capturing not only the spirit of her whānau, but a future where Māori see ourselves not through someone else's gaze, but through our own.
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award: Winning photo ‘reclaims narrative' for Māori amid cultural unrest
Her photo, part of a series called Taniwha Chasers, was chosen from 41 finalists and was announced in the presence of the Māori Queen, Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te pō, at Pipitea Marae in Wellington on Wednesday night. 'Ōpōtiki hasn't always had the most positive stories told about them to the media and I think it's really important for us Māori digital artists or people who work in this media-type space ... to be reclaiming those stories and reclaiming our narrative and telling them the way we want them to be told, and capturing the beauty of our small towns and our communities,' Paget-Knebel told the Herald. She said Taniwha Chasers was about representing her community 'and their resilience and us as a people'. 'Really embracing mana motuhake [self-determination, independence and sovereignty] and our strength.' Paget-Knebel said she wanted to focus on a Māori perspective for her photo. 'Our time is non-linear, so to photograph a rangatahi, it just shows that real deep connection with our tūpuna [ancestors] and to see our tūpuna in them.' She felt the picture was a 'timely piece with everything that's happening with this Government and the Toitū te Tiriti movement. I think it's a really great symbol of hope for our rangatahi. There's so much power within all aspects of our community.' Speaking on why she chose to enter that particular picture out of the others in the series, she said: 'There's just something about that photo, eh? 'The rangatahi's expression, it's so pure, and just the movement, this feeling of excitement but complete stillness. Yeah, it just fit the brief for me.' In her entry to the awards, she wrote that the photo also referred to an intimate connection shared between tangata, hōiho (horses) and their whenua. 'Māori have held a long and historic connection to horses as they were used as a tool to colonise Aotearoa but have since been reclaimed as part of our whakapapa. This image captures the intimate connection rangatahi Māori share with the wild horses of Ōpōtiki and how they are being used to uplift the mana of our community.' Paget-Knebel was born and raised in Ōmaio, a small coastal town near Ōpōtiki. She began taking photographs at the age of 12, and her interest in photography deepened after attending a five-day National Geographic photo camp in Murupara, where she learned alongside world-renowned photographers. She moved to Wellington four years ago to study photography at Massey University, and will complete her honours degree this year. She photographed the 2023 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award and was later invited by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery to photograph the 2025 awards. Organisers were left scrambling to find a new photographer when Paget-Knebel unexpectedly became the winner of this year's award. She said she 'kind of just went silent' when she found out she had won. She was most excited to meet the Māori Queen, and said sharing a hongi with her at the awards 'made my entire year and more'. She was thinking about using some of her winnings to publish a book of her photo series, and was hopeful if there was some left over it could go towards her receiving her moko kauae later this year. The biennial award was established in 2020 to inspire a new generation of emerging Māori artists to create portraits of their tūpuna. This year's award attracted portraits using a wide range of mediums, including video, stop-motion puppetry, ceramics with pāua inlay, oil paintings and textiles made from linen, cotton and glass beads. The judges described the winning photo as uplifting and joyful, and captured 'the heart of our time'. 'It is full of hope and youthful energy, with a fresh perspective on connecting with our tūpuna and te taiao [the natural world]. We are all carried along with this young rider into a future that is increasingly uncertain. 'The young rider, his galloping horse, the raised flag and the brooding land all merge wonderfully to convey this powerful message ... For us judges, it was a unanimous choice. We all read the work the same way.' The runner-up, who wins $2500, was Maata-Maria Cartisciano from Waitārere Beach for Ekore koe e ngaro i tōku Koro, an acrylic and pencil portrait of her koro. The exhibition of pictures from the award is at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery on Wellington's waterfront until August 17. Entry is free.
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Bay of Plenty's Jazmin Paget-Knebel wins 2025 Kīngi Tūheitia Portraiture Awards
'This image captures the intimate connection rangatahi Māori share with the wild horses of Ōpōtiki and how they are being used to uplift the mana of our community.' Paget-Knebel, who affiliates with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Hine, was born and raised in Ōmaio – a small coastal township about 30 minutes from Ōpōtiki. Home-schooled throughout her upbringing, she began taking photographs at the age of 12. Her interest in photography deepened after attending a five-day National Geographic photo camp in Murupara, where she learned alongside world-renowned photographers. The 22-year-old moved to Wellington four years ago to study photography at Massey University, and this year will complete her honours degree in photography. She said her work was 'centred around celebrating Māori/indigenous culture through decolonising and re-indigenising western ideologies and perspectives surrounding the lens to better her community and people.' 'I descend from the Paget bloodline that came from my great-grandmother, Tangimamao (Nee Patara), on my mother's side of my whānau. 'She had whakapapa to the iwi of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Whakatōhea. 'Her sons, John Paget and Richard Paget, went on to reside in Opōtiki, which later became the birthplace of my mother, Heather Paget (daughter of John Paget). 'My whānau are the original inspiration for the creation of Taniwha Chasers as they were some of the first generations to ride horses in Ōpōtiki." Paget-Knebe served as the photographer for the 2023 Kīngi Tūheitia Portraiture Awards and was later invited by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery to photograph the 2025 awards. 'I never seriously considered entering the awards myself until this year. 'My friends kept encouraging me after seeing the photos I'd taken back home for a university assignment. 'I'm beyond excited to be the recipient of such an important award. It's an incredible honour, and I'm especially excited for rangatahi to see the work and learn about the history behind it.' The biennial awards were established in 2020 as a partnership between the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata and the late Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII to inspire a new generation of emerging Māori artists to create portraits of their tūpuna (ancestors). The 2025 awards are hosted and administered by the gallery in his honour, with the blessing of Kuini Nga wai hono i te po. The awards attracted portraits using a wide range of mediums, including video, stop-motion puppetry, ceramics with paua inlay, oil paintings and textiles made from linen, cotton, and glass beads. The shortlisted artworks were chosen by a panel of judges, including contemporary Māori artist Dr. Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu), head carver for Waikato-Tainui Renta Te Wiata (Waikato-Ngāti Māhuta, Te Arawa – Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara), and leading painter John Walsh (Aitanga a Hauiti). Reflecting on the winning artwork, the judges said: ' Taniwha Chasers is an uplifting, joyful image that captures the heart of our time. 'It is full of hope and youthful energy, with a fresh perspective on connecting with our tūpuna and te taiao. We are all carried along with this young rider into a future that is increasingly uncertain. 'The young rider, his galloping horse, the raised flag and the brooding land all merge wonderfully to convey this powerful message. The horse, once a symbol of colonisation, has been reclaimed as part of our whakapapa and on-going struggle. The message is bright and clear, the composition is strong, the scale and presentation are all striking. The work is in black and white, but you sense the richness of the scene. For us judges, it was a unanimous choice; we all read the work the same way.' The runner-up and winner of the $2500 second prize was awarded to Maata-Maria Cartisciano from Waitārere Beach for Ekore koe e ngaro i tōku Koro, an acrylic and pencil portrait of the artist's koro (grandfather). The judges also gave honourable mentions to five artists – Shannon Te Rangihaeata Clamp, Divine Herekiuha, Jessica Hulme, Caitlin Jolley and Zoe Marler. The exhibition will open at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Shed 11 on Wellington's waterfront from May 22 to August 17, and entry is free. The public can also vote for their choice to win the Forsyth Barr People's Choice Award – a cash prize of $2500, announced at the close of the exhibition. The finalists' artworks will then tour Aotearoa over the next two years.
Scoop
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Photograph Wins 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award
Press Release – New Zealand Portrait Gallery Jazmins work Taniwha Chasers was chosen from an impressive 41 finalists with the Award being announced in the presence of the Mori Queen Kuini Nga wai hono i te po at Pipitea Marae in Wellington on Wednesday 21 May. Jazmin Tainui Mihi Paget-Knebel from Ōpōtiki has been announced the winner of the 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award and a $20,000 cash prize. Jazmin's work Taniwha Chasers was chosen from an impressive 41 finalists with the Award being announced in the presence of the Māori Queen Kuini Nga wai hono i te po at Pipitea Marae in Wellington on Wednesday 21 May. Photographed in her hometown Ōpōtiki, Jazmin says Taniwha Chasers refers to the intimate connection shared between tangata, hoiho and their whenua. 'Māori have held a long and historic connection to horses as they were used as a tool to colonise Aotearoa but have since been reclaimed as part of our whakapapa. This image captures the intimate connection rangatahi Māori share with the wild horses of Ōpōtiki and how they are being used to uplift the mana of our community.' Jazmin, who affiliates with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Hine, was born and raised in Ōmaio — a small coastal township located about 30 minutes from Ōpōtiki. Homeschooled throughout her upbringing, she began taking photographs at the age of 12. Her interest in photography deepened after attending a five-day National Geographic photo camp in Murupara, where she learned alongside world-renowned photographers. The 22-year-old moved to Wellington four years ago to study photography at Massey University and this year will complete her Honours degree in Photography. Jazmin says her work is centred around celebrating Māori/Indigenous culture through decolonising and re-indigenizing western ideologies and perspectives surrounding the lens to better her community and people. 'I descend from the Paget bloodline that came from my Great-Grandmother, Tangimamao (Nee Patara) on my mother's side of my whanau. She had Whakapapa to the Iwi of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Whakatōhea. Her sons John Paget and Richard Paget went on to reside in Opōtiki which later become the birthplace of my mother, Heather Paget (daughter of John Paget). My whānau are the original inspiration for the creation of Taniwha Chasers as they were some of the first generations to ride horses in Ōpōtiki.' In an uncanny turn of events, Jazmin served as the photographer for the 2023 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award and was later invited by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery to photograph the 2025 awards. 'I never seriously considered entering the awards myself until this year. My friends kept encouraging me after seeing the photos I'd taken back home for a university assignment. I'm beyond excited to be the recipient of such an important award. It's an incredible honour, and I'm especially excited for rangatahi to see the work and learn about the history behind it.' The biennial Award was established in 2020 as a partnership between the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, and the late Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII to inspire a new generation of emerging Māori artists to create portraits of their tūpuna (ancestors). The 2025 Award is hosted and administered by the Gallery in his honour, with the blessing of Kuini Nga wai hono i te po. The award attracted portraits using a wide range of mediums including video, stop-motion puppetry, ceramics with paua inlay, oil paintings and textiles made from linen, cotton, and glass beads. The shortlisted artworks were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges, including contemporary Māori artist Dr. Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu), Head Carver for Waikato-Tainui Renta Te Wiata (Waikato-Ngāti Māhuta, Te Arawa – Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara), and leading painter John Walsh (Aitanga a Hauiti). Reflecting on the winning artwork the judges said: ' Taniwha Chasers is an uplifting, joyful, image that captures the heart of our time. It is full of hope and youthful energy, with a fresh perspective on connecting with our tupuna and te taiao. We are all carried along with this young rider into a future that is increasingly uncertain. The young rider, his galloping horse, the raised flag and the brooding land all merge wonderfully to convey this powerful message. The horse, once a symbol of colonization, has been reclaimed as part of our whakapapa and on-going struggle. The message is bright and clear, the composition is strong, the scale, and presentation are all striking. The work is in black and white, but you sense the richness of the scene. For us judges it was a unanimous choice, we all read the work the same way.' The runner-up and winner of the $2,500 second prize was awarded to Maata-Maria Cartisciano from Waitārere Beach for Ekore koe e ngaro i tōku Koro, an acrylic and pencil portrait of the artists koro (grandfather). The judges also gave honourable mentions to five artists – Shannon Te Rangihaeata Clamp, Divine Herekiuha, Jessica Hulme, Caitlin Jolley and Zoe Marler. The exhibition will open at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata in Shed 11 on Wellington's waterfront from Thursday, 22 May to Sunday, 17 August 2025. Entry is free. The public can also vote for their choice to win the Forsyth Barr People's Choice Award – a cash prize of $2,500, announced at the close of the exhibition. The finalists' artworks will then tour Aotearoa over the next two years.
