Tūhoe people perform a haka, a traditional challenge, as government officials arrive for the 2014 Tūhoe-Crown Settlement Day ceremony where the government formally apologized for historical injustices. Tāneatua, New Zealand. 
2025 Photo Contest - Asia-Pacific and Oceania - Long-Term Projects

Te Urewera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People

Photographer

Tatsiana Chypsanava

Pulitzer Center, New Zealand Geographic
22 August, 2014

Tūhoe people perform a haka, a traditional challenge, as government officials arrive for the 2014 Tūhoe-Crown Settlement Day ceremony where the government formally apologized for historical injustices. Tāneatua, New Zealand. 

The Ngāi Tūhoe people of the Te Urewera region in New Zealand have maintained a staunch independence. Tūhoe have never lost their connection to their language and cultural identity, and in a groundbreaking 2014 agreement, the New Zealand government opened the way to Tūhoe managing their ancestral lands according to their cultural values.

Recent changes by New Zealand’s right-wing government are seen as reversals of such hard-fought progressive policies regarding indigenous peoples. Yet the Tataiwhetu Trust farm in Te Urewera offers a revitalizing model for a younger generation.

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Tatsiana Chypsanava
About the photographer

Tatsiana Chypsanava is a documentary photographer based in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Born in Belarus and a descendant of the Komi peoples of the Siberian North West Ural, she is a member of Diversify Photo and Women Photograph, both groups that champion diversity in the industry. Her work focuses on indigenous rights, mig...

Read the full biography
Technical information
Shutter Speed

1/80

ISO

250

Camera

Nikon D700

Jury comment

The jury felt this project stood out as a powerful, detailed look at the Ngāi Tūhoe people's fight for the return of their ancestral lands and indigenous rights. It captures the ongoing governance struggles between Te Urewera's ways of being and Western knowledge, along with tensions from far-right political movements. Through a variety of thoughtful frames, the work provides a compelling visual dialogue about relationships to land and cultural preservation, shedding light on an often underrepresented community.