Nelson-based photographer wins global award with photos of Tūhoe people
Nelson-based photographer wins global award with photos of Tūhoe people
Nelson photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava has won the Long Term Project category for the Asia-Pacific Oceania region of the 2025 World Press Photo Awards.
Her project ‘Te Urewera - The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People’ took 10 years to complete.
Her work documented Tūhoe people’s resilience, connection to their land and efforts to preserve their culture.
The winners were selected from 59,320 entries submitted by 3778 photographers from 141 countries.
Nelson-based documentary maker photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava has won an award at the 2025 World Press Photo Contest for her portfolio on Te Urewera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People.
The press awards, announced in Amsterdam late on Thursday night NZ time, showcase the most outstanding examples ofphotojournalism and documentary photography from around the globe.
Chypsanava won the Long-Term Project category for the Asia-Pacific Oceania region and told the Herald her portfolio had taken 10 years to complete.
“It’s a project I have been working on for a long time,” Chypsanava said.
“I am so thankful to the Tūhoe people for taking me in and allowing me into their whānau.”
Last night’s award winners were selected from 59,320 entries submitted by 3778 photographers from 141 countries. An independent global jury, comprising regional and global jury chairpersons, carefully chose the winners.
Former photographic winners include New Zealanders Greg Baker in 2001 and Rob Hammond, who won in 2014 and 2017.
The Te Urewera region is ancestral Tūhoe land. This photograph formed part of Chypsanava's winning portfolio
Chypsanava said her portfolio provided an intimate look at the Tūhoe people of the Te Urewera region, and explored their connection to their ancestral lands and ongoing efforts to embody their cultural identity.
“I hope this gives recognition to the story and struggles indigenous people are still facing” she said.
“It has been hard work over the years and though this is not the end of this story, it’s an end to this part of the project.”
Chypsanava, 44, moved to New Zealand in 2008 and worked at Archives NZ, where some of her colleagues were from Tūhoe iwi.
She completed a photography course, and the project seed was sown.
The judges said Chypsanava’s project highlighted the strength and resilience of the Tūhoe community, documenting how they continue to manage their land and culture in a modern world while honouring their ancestral ties.
It offered a glimpse into the daily lives of a community deeply connected to their land and heritage, reminding viewers of the power of cultural resilience and the importance of protecting indigenous rights, the judges said.
Photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava won the prestigious World Press Photo Contest award for Asia-Pacific and Oceania long-term project with her photo story Te Urewera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People.
Chypsanava’s project of still photographs highlighted the Tataiwhetu Trust, an organic dairy farm in Rūātoki known for its sustainable land management and cultural revitalisation.
Established in the 1980s by six Ngāti Rongo families, the farm had been abandoned for years before it was revitalised and transformed into a leading organic dairy operation, operating under the guiding philosophy “Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata” – “When the land is in good health, so too are the people”.
Nelson-based photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava won a major World Press Photo award in Amsterdam last night.
The winning photographs from the 2025 contest will be displayed in 60 locations worldwide as part of the World Press Photo annual travelling exhibition, allowing millions of people to see these powerful stories.
It will be displayed in Wellington in September, and also Auckland - with dates to be confirmed.
