Ans Westra

Ans Westra

Here's how photographer Ans Westra (born in Leiden, Holland, 1936) describes her first commission for School Publications, the publisher of the School Journal.

I was going to go to the Pacific and they were looking for stories around the life of children in different situations. They said to look out for something there and I did Viliami of the Friendly Islands. That was really my very first published book. They gave me some guidelines about what they wanted – how big a story, with a beginning, middle and end – and I went and looked for it.

Westra's photographs became an important feature of the School Journal in the 1960s. In 1964 she produced two book-length photo essays for the Journal, 'Children at Play' and 'Holiday at the Capital', and another in 1965, 'The Circus Comes to Town'.

In 1966 an all-photography issue of the Journal opened with the photo essay 'What’s Tommy Doing?' by Westra, with text by Louis Johnson, and closed with 'Suzie’s Family', scenes from the life of a house cat, written and photographed by Westra.

Westra’s work gained some notoriety during the same period, with the 1961 School Bulletin Washday at the Pa, for which she took the photographs. The publication was famously withdrawn following protests from both Māori and Pākehā groups.

Damian Skinner interview with Ans Westra – Art New Zealand website

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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