Tania Niwa - Photographer at MAORI MARKet
Multi award winning photographer Tania Niwa, originally from Taranaki and now based in Sydney, will be back in NZ this month to show her works at the inaugural MAORI MARKet in Wellington...
MAORI MARKet Media Resource (April 2007)
Tania Niwa - Photographer (Taranaki)
Multi award winning photographer Tania Niwa, originally from Taranaki and now based in Sydney, will be back in NZ this month to show her works at the inaugural MAORI MARKet in Wellington.
Tania (35) has just returned from the United States, where, for the second year running she won a number of awards for her photographic excellence at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) in Las Vegas. The competition attracted 2800 entries from 35 countries. Tania’s awards included the Grand Award for the Commercial Category and winner of the Portrait Individual Category. Six of her works won Accolades of Excellence. In 2006 she was WPPI winner of the Premier Category and winner of the New Approach Award.
With her roots firmly in the Taranaki, Tania grew up next door to a Marae and it was here she found inspiration for the tribal culture work, for which she is becoming renown. Images of indigenous people are juxtaposed with western faces (Tania’s commercial work consists largely of family and portrait photography) – and the common thread is the emotion her work universally evokes.
“I try to capture the essence, the soul, of the people I’m portraying.
“It’s me expressing something in them – and it’s exciting for me when I see people seeing something in themselves that they hadn’t seen before, and loving what they see.”
“It’s a great feeling of fulfillment when I create artwork that has a cultural feeling – I love to celebrate native cultures.”
Tania’s tribal work is a perfect balance to her commercial work. She sees all of it as artwork – and clearly, having won so many awards in so few years, her gift of capturing the soul through her portraits is one that is being recognized the world over.
Tania will have seven pieces of her limited edition artwork exhibited and for sale at MAORI MARKet. She will be in Taranaki next week as guest speaker for the New Zealand Photographic Society in New Plymouth.
ENDS