Birgit Krippner, ‘Tame Iti’

April 2 – April 26, 2015

Harvey Milk Photo Center is proud to present the photographs of Birgit Krippner, an Austrian photographer now living in New Zealand, which comprises photographs taken by Krippner during her regular visits with Ngāi Tūhoe a Māori iwi (“tribe”) of New Zealand, also known as “the children of the mist”.

The exhibition will include Krippner’s contribution to a collaboration with Tame Iti, the high profile Tūhoe Māori activist and artist, which was shown in New Zealand in February 2015. The collaborative show is called Iti – the Tūhoe meaning of which is “humble or in the background”.

During the colonial period the Crown confiscated Te Urewera, Tūhoe’s ancestral homeland in the eastern North Island. In the 20th century the Tūhoe people suffered extreme social deprivation – ravaged by famine and disease. Especially hard hit were the children — school records from the 1920s and 1930s show that 75% of those who died were less than 25 years old.

Despite this adversity, the Tūhoe people have demonstrated the mana (“indestructible spiritual power”) to preserve their Māori identity like few other iwi — including the continued and uninterrupted use of their native language by a very high percentage of their population.

Krippner’s photos in this exhibition document a very important time in Tuhoe’s history. Tūhoe’s 2014 treaty settlement with the Crown returned Te Urewera, the spiritual home of the Tūhoe people, and marks the transition from grievance to a future promising greater opportunity and self-determination.

Krippner’s photographs provide an intermit lens on Tame Iti, the Tuhoe people and Te Urewera, and serves as a document of the promise of new beginnings.

Krippner has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally in recent years, including Paris, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, Auckland, Wellington, Havelock North and Napier.

Photos by Birgit Krippner

April 2–26, 2015, 6–8:30 p.m.

Opening Reception: April 2, 6–8:30 p.m.

Harvey Milk Photo Center
50 Scott St at Duboce
(415) 554-9522

Gallery Hours
Tue–Thur: 4–9 p.m. | Sat: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Sun: 12–5:30 p.m.

Visit Brigit at www.birgitkrippner.com.

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