Profit and loss explored in artist's award-winning thesis

‘Ahakoa e tū ana ahau ki uta, e taupungā ana ki tai.’

This Ngātiwai whakatauakī, or proverb, which translates as ‘although I am standing on land, I am submerged in the tide’, strikes at the heart of the research of Ngahuia Harrison (Ngātiwai, Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāpuhi).

Her PhD research, titled ‘Coastal Cannibals: Industry Occupation on Whangārei Te Rerenga Parāoa’, examines the intersection of economic development and its impact on mana whenua. The creative-led research includes photography, video, textiles and sculpture as well as a written dissertation.

Ngahuia completed her award-winning PhD in 2022 at Elam School of Fine Arts and the James Henare Research Centre, supervised by Associate Professor Peter Robinson and Associate Professor Marama Muru-Lanning, and credits her success to working across the departments.

“The interest in trans-disciplinary or collaborative research is growing,” she says. “As well as being more expansive in what an output can be, especially if we’re thinking about accessibility, with creative-led and Indigenous research methods, these modes of working are inherent.”

‘Coastal Cannibals’ explores the consequences of industrialisation through a mana whenua lens on Whangārei Harbour, also known as Te Rerenga Parāoa – a place once revered as a gathering spot for chiefs and whales.

Ngahuia brings to light the political and cultural complexities of Whangārei Harbour, illustrating the lasting effects of colonisation, government legislation, and private development on the land, water and people.

The oil refinery, cement works and residential developments depicted in her images have led to extensive ecological damage to the harbour.

However, these industries have also provided economic security for the region, serving as major sources of employment.

Ngahuia says the promises of economic sustainability made during industrial development came at the expense of mana whenua and the rich marine life that once thrived in the harbour. It is a complicated relationship that raises questions to which the thesis offers no easy answers.

“These are the places where mana whenua worked; that have sustained whānau because the customary practices no longer sustain anyone. That is the consequence of a cannibal capitalism, which impedes our ability to subsist or access natural resources, if they haven’t been extinguished altogether.”

These ideas are evident in Ngahuia’s photography, which articulates the intricate interplay of place, Indigeneity and contemporary lived reality that unfolds across Whangārei Harbour and its surroundings.

“I wanted to portray the flax-roots reality of living around industrial sites, of working in these places, in a landscape where your history extends over a thousand years – a place where you would’ve fed yourself by collecting kaimoana, but that resource is fast becoming extinct, and, more recently, where places like the oil refinery have sustained whānau during the ‘Think Big’ expansion,” she says.

“I wanted to complicate ideas like ‘customary practice’, or these boxes Māori are placed into, in order to prove our relationship to place. Crown definitions are often very narrow, which is not representative of real life.”

Although the sites covered in her research are both geographically and culturally specific, they represent processes that affect many Māori across Aotearoa, she says.

Ngahuia now holds Te Tomokanga Postdoctoral Fellowship, a two-year appointment with Te Kura Tangata, Faculty of Arts. The role recognises the importance of Māori and Pacific knowledge and experience, and the need for more Māori and Pacific staff.

Te Rina Triponel