Kia Orana, my name is Alexandra Moana King.

I am a Polynesian/ Maori woman photographer. I was born in Opotiki on the East Coast of Aotearoa(New Zealand) where my mothers family and tribes(iwi) descend through Whakatohea, Ngai Tuhoe and Ngati Porou. She is also of Spanish decent.

My Marae(sacred meeting grounds) are Kutarere Marae, Omaramutu Marae and Opape Marae.

Since birth, I was raised in Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands where my father comes from. Our families descend from the islands of Mangaia and Rarotonga and our tribe and Vaka is Uritaua, which in history descended from Hawaii. Our hapu is Ngati Putua. My grandfather on my fathers side was also born in England and of British decent, from the small English town of Henley on Thames. So I consider myself a mixed bag of many things!

I have been on my photography journey for the past 11 years. Specialising in portraiture, storytelling, documentary, and wedding photography, my passion and focus is heavily on indigenous community stories, environmental advocacy and injustice.

I am self taught and have not studied photography. As an indigenous woman, visual storytelling and photography has come naturally through my upbringing and has played a huge role in my life as a healing tool. I am also a mother of one daughter who is 10 years old.

I seek to influence change and healing in my pacific island communities, and use my photography and storytelling to support and impact revitalising the visions of our identities through culture, language and practices.

Over the last few years, I have reconnected to my culture and community through artistic visions, re imagining our narratives and amplifying our narratives.

Recently co founded and created an NGO in the Cook Islands called

Te Ara o te Akau, being in collaboration with some of my close friends and family who are passionate about the ocean environment is also something I spend a huge amount of my time on. This NGO is focused on ocean conservation through coral restoration; restoring areas of our coral reef and protecting our marine life, through the Cook Islands.

I am a proud indigenous wahine(woman) visual artist and storyteller and this has been my decade long journey of re discovering, reclamation and re creating myself and the vision of our people through photography and storytelling.

Thank you for visiting my page!

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