Capturing a likeness without a camera
Legacy books honouring respected weavers of harakeke
Client
Ngāti Pikiao Iwi Trust
The brief
Ngāti Pikiao Iwi Trust commissioned a series of three legacy books, each celebrating a kuia who is well known and deeply respected in the traditional art of harakeke. The Trust didn’t want photography, and generative AI wasn’t an option. Every image had to be drawn by hand. The goal, and the challenge, was to capture not just the likeness of each wahine but her essence, in books that would be treasured for generations. The supplied text was minimal, so the illustrations and design had to carry much of each story.
The outcome
Claire created watercolour portraits and illustrations, most drawn from photographs, that capture the warmth and character of each woman. Glenn designed the books and created a woven graphic motif that runs through all three covers and pages, linking the individual stories and giving the series a unity of its own, much like strands of harakeke woven together. The result is a set of three books that stand alone as personal tributes and belong together as a series.