This is home

Ngāi Tūhoe have always been staunchly independent. Despite the New Zealand government’s attempts to assimilate them and dispossess them of their land, Tūhoe retained their strong Māori identity, language, and some of their traditional lands, nestled in the steep, remote ranges of Aotearoa, New Zealand’s North Island.

Like many Tūhoe, John Teepa spent years living in the city, away from his ancestral land. When he, his wife Carol Teepa, and his six children returned to his birthplace, a dairy farm in Ruatoki, they followed the customary adoption process of whāngai, eventually raising more than 20 adopted children alongside their own.

Teepa’s homestead has now sheltered more than six generations – and hundreds of tamariki. “This is home,” John tells his numerous descendants. His dairy farm is now part of the Tataiwhetu Trust farm, one of the most successful dairy farms in the country and fully organic. It is guided by the principle “Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tāngata”. When the land is in good health, so too are the people.

Tatsiana Chypsanava

Tatsiana Chypsanava is a documentary photographer based in Nelson, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Originally from Belarus and a descendant of the Komi peoples of the Siberian Northwest Urals, she focuses her work on Indigenous rights, migration, and environmental issues.

Chypsanava is a member of Diversify Photo and Women Photograph, two organizations that promote diversity in the photography industry. She is a grantee of the Wellcome Trust and Pulitzer Center.

Chypsanava contributes to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New Zealand Geographic amongst others and she has exhibited at the Photoville Festival in 2023. She is fluent in several languages, including English, Russian, and Portuguese.