Canterbury Landscape

Canterbury Landscape presents a curated selection of photographs by Anne Noble from the Unutai e! Unutai e! project, developed in collaboration with Ngāi Tahu. The exhibition documents the degradation of waterways across Te Waipounamu and features powerful portraits of claimants in their chosen waterbodies, connected to the Ngāi Tahu freshwater claim heard in the High Court through March 2025. The works capture the ecological crisis affecting traditional mahinga kai (food gathering) sites, including aerial views of the Halswell/Huritini and Selwyn/Waikirikiri rivers as they enter Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, and striking portraits of tuna. The photographs, drawn from the Āhua o Te Wai photographic archive commissioned by Ngāi Tahu between 2023–2025, serve as both artistic documentation and urgent testimony to the need for freshwater protection.