Nō te iwi taketake o Ahitereiria a Colleen Raven. Nānā anō ia i whakaako ki te hopu whakaahua, i tana hopu haere i ngā pūrākau a tōna ake iwi. Ko ana whakaahua kua whānui te hora ki te ao ipurangi, otirā ko tana kohinga hōu, kua toro atu ki te hau whā miriona tāngata, neke atu. Kei a Te Rina Kowhai ngā whakamahuki.
Koinei ngā pikitia e hora nei ki te ao ipurangi.
Hei tā Ms Raven ki a Kāea, “I said to the ladies I said right do you want to make this go viral. Because I like to show off, I love to show off our culture and if you give me a chance, I will make it go viral and it did, it went crazy.”
He ngāwari tā tēnei wahine nō Arabuna tirohanga atu i te aronga ahurea.
“Birthing normally happens you know near trees or in a specific place in aboriginal culture, so it was really good that we managed to capture that in all its strength and glory.”
Nā tana manawa tītī, nānā anō i whakaako ki te hopu whakaahua, nōna i whakatipu i āna tama e rua.
“At the start, I wanted to give up so many times I was so frustrated but I just kept pushing my way through it again YouTube, YouTube, YouTube.”
He mātanga niho o mua a Colleen, i tīmata ki te hopu whakaahua i te tau rua mano tekau mā rua. / He hīkoitanga hōu ki a ia mē tōna iwi Arabuna, ā koia hoki te wā i whakatauria te whakahokinga atu o roto Lake Eyre, Kati Thanda rānei ki a rātou.
“Having that come back to our people was a huge celebration but also sad too because we've lost a lot of elders that were quite important that missed out on seeing that handover.”
Ki tā te iwi Arabuna, he roto wairua e mau ana i ō rātou moemoea.
“What that photo tells a story of, is that we are the keepers of the lake, you know, we have to look after the lake. When I take a photo, when I see their faces light up and they see themselves in the way that I see it, it's amazing the whole atmosphere changes. They go from quite shy to styling up to what they do when they're taking a selfie.”
Ki tā Colleen, he mea hirahira ki a ia ki te whakaatu i ngā pūrākau a tōna ake iwi.
“You get a lot of non-indigenous people coming into our community taking photos. Normally it would be the disparity, it will be all the negative stereotypes sometimes but I want to go in and take photos that uplift and empower us. Not only us but also to show the world that we are still here. We are still practising our culture, we are still strong and that we are beautiful people who are strong in our knowledge and culture.”
