Step inside a compelling visual narrative that challenges society’s assumptions and celebrates the power of change. RAW Beauty is a transformative photographic master’s exhibition curated by Annah
Stretton, bringing to light the stories of waahine with lived experience of incarceration not as statistics, but as women of deep strength, mana, and untapped potential.

In this collection of striking portraits and personal reflections, the exhibition directly responds to the historic injustice of the state mugshot imagery captured and circulated without agency or consent. Here, those same women reclaim their image, voice, and future on their own terms. 

The work has been developed in partnership with the waahine of RAW (Reclaim Another Woman), a pioneering social initiative that supports high-risk women to exit cycles of offending, poverty, and dependence. RAW offers a long-term, wraparound model of care that includes education, employment, and whaanau reconnection, walking alongside women both during and after their time in prison.

Upcoming event sessions

Thursday 24 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Friday 25 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Saturday 26 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Sunday 27 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Monday 28 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Tuesday 29 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Wednesday 30 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Thursday 31 July
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Friday 1 August
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily
Saturday 2 August
Central Library - Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa
Open Daily