An elderly Maori woman, who is wife of a man named Pakinga Nopera, with a tobacco pipe in her mouth sitting by a pile of kumara, (sweet potato) with a Maori flax basket and a dog. Photograph taken by the Northwood Brothers. (between 1910 and 1919)

source of the image.

Wife of Pakinga Nopera. Northwood brothers :Photographs of Northland. Ref: 1/1-006226-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. [/records/23143097](https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23143097)

description from source.

“The wife of Pakinga Nopera, with a tobacco pipe, seated alongside a pile of kumara, a kete and a dog. Photograph taken by the Northwood Brothers between 1910 and 1919.”

oddly enough it does not give her own name, just that she was wife of a man named Pakinga Nopera, and i also cant find much information of Pakinga Nopera himself, when i google the name it takes me to this image. i had assumed this “Pakinga Nopera” would have been someone important, but nah, doesnt seem to be.

im surprised she is sitting on the kumara, in modern Maori culture having your bum anywhere near food, or where you eat food (like a table) is a big taboo, maybe it didnt matter because the kumara has not yet been cooked? and so is not considered food yet? did the photographer pay her a lot to sit in this position? did she specifically not care about this taboo?

also, idk what it is, but the dog looks weird to me, kinda like it was added onto the photo and wasnt actually there? though i have genuine reasons to believe this, the dog just looks odd to me.