Ko Tararua te māunga
Ko Ōtaki te awa
Ko Te Waewae-Kapiti-o-Tara-raua-ko-Rangitane te motu
Nō Waiorua ahau
Ko Manaaki Barrett tōku ingoa

In 1820 my tupuna (ancestor) Te Rangihiroa migrated to the Kapiti Coast from Kawhia, and began our whānau’s relationship with Kapiti Island. For 10 generations our lives have been bound to this island, and we’ve borne witness to one of the worlds most significant ecological recoveries. For over 120 years Kapiti Island has been an active restoration conservation project, and today is one of Aotearoa’s most important Nature Reserves, home to some of our most at risk species.

I’ve spent most of the last 10 years immersed in the life of Kapiti Island. My connection with the island and its inhabitants has nurtured an appreciation for the complex and attractive expressions of life in Aotearoa. Through my photography I hope to capture an aspect of the nature of our unique endemic species, and demonstrate the complexity and beauty of the taonga (treasures) that have been entrusted to us.

I believe that our greatest responsibility on earth is to preserve and protect those taonga tuku iho we still have, the treasures that have been passed on from our ancestors, none more precious than the full ecological diversity of the natural world around us. I hope the images I capture will help to celebrate the wonder of the world, and inspire a deeper connection and sense of shared purpose in our responsibility to protect it.

Manaaki Barrett.