Ko te wai anake, te au e riporipo ana ki mea roto, ki mea awa, ki te nuku o te whenua?
Aue taukuri e!
Pupū ake a Muriwai Ōwhata i a roimata He manawa piako te Papa ā-Kura o Takaroa
Waimate haere ana te waiora Kei hea rā taku ika e?
Kai hea rā te oraka mō taku iwi e!
Only the rippling waters of this lake and of that river can be heard flowing across the land
Muriwai Ōwhata is over-flowing with tears
The great hīnaki of Māui, Te Papa ā-Kura o Takaroa, is like a hollow and empty heart
The life giving waters are turning brackish and undrinkable
Where have our fresh water fish species gone?
Where are our people able to thrive?
In 2020, Ngāi Tahu filed a statement of claim with the High Court in Ōtautahi Christchurch, seeking recognition of our rakatirataka (authority) over wai māori (fresh water) within our takiwā (territory). To support this claim, Te Kura Taka Pini, the division of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu responsible for delivering on the Ngāi Tahu Rangatiratanga over Freshwater Strategy, enlisted photographer Anne Noble ONZM, to capture and document the crisis. Her role was to provide an impartial perspective – capturing our people in their chosen waterbodies while also revealing the widespread environmental degradation of those waterbodies witnessed daily across Te Waipounamu.
What began as a photographic assignment evolved into an extensive archive, illustrating not only the devastation but also the resilience of whānau, hapū, and iwi striving to restore wai māori, uphold rakatirataka, and protect mahinga kai practices. An exhibition of this work ‘Unutai e! Unutai e!’ harnesses the power of contemporary art to shed light on an urgent environmental crisis: the deteriorating state of fresh water across Ngāi Tahu tribal lands.
The exhibition will be on display at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery until Sunday 12th October 2025. It will then be on display at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 13 December 2025 – 19 April 2026.