Taonga o Waimarama ', Bloodlines ' 2001 <Ask for Price List >
Digitally processed photographs on foam board - 80 x 400 cm

" Bloodlines is the link between my images and the theme of much of my work. These images, entitled ' Taonga o Waimarama ', are simply Christmas day 2000 at Waimarama. This is home, one of the four that my son lists when you ask him where he's from . Rakai and I were married here and this is where we will return. Our children are taonga and so they belong to this place. It is with them that a positive future lies. I use my art as a tool. My world is revealed through the bloodlines of my son, my people. It's a lifetime journey. I am here looking around at us, te whanau. Our existence is important, complex, beautiful , and so often portrayed by outsiders looking in ".

Melaina Newport-Karaitiana - Born 1973 - Maori ( Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Ruru )

Newport-Karaitiana grew up in Napier and Auckland. After studying design at AU she lived overseas in London and New York for three years. In 1997 she began a Fine Arts degree at the University of Auckland. In 1998 she found in photography the personal medium she was looking for to document, with intimacy and perception, the life of whanau, bloodlines and place. She recently exhibited at the 4th Noumea Biennial of Contemporary Arts, and in a two person exhibition at the George Fraser Gallery, Auckland.