Michael KrzanichSomeone's Mana

In 2014 and 2015 Michael Krzanich (*1964 in New Zealand) explored the undercurrent of remote New Zealand and found a resonance unique to that part of the world. The evocatively personal images in Someone’s Mana depict people and places that have a deep connection with the mystical nature of Maori life and the land (whenua).

"Mana" is defined as a supernatural force in a person, place, or object. A delicate aspect of Maori culture, mana can be measured as influence, authority, charisma, or spiritual power. Whether inherited or achieved through many complex means, it can also be reduced or lost.

Krzanich asks us to imagine what entity and type of mana is represented within the carefully chosen perspective that he takes in each photograph. Together with Maori and English poetry by artist and Maori cultural advisor, Haare Williams, and the editorial guidance of eminent Maori writer Witi Ihimaera, we are invited to consider how and where mana might exist in each image, if it remains, or if it has diminished.