The photograph shows Maori men, women, and children arranged for a group portrait on the porch of a whare or wharenui (meeting house) in New Zealand. This ceremonial structure, also called a talking house, and the marae (grassy area in front of it) are central to Maori social order and culture. These typical sacred structures are monuments to tribal ancestors and places that bridge past and present generations. The gathering of children shown in the photograph represents the transmission of a sense of belonging to the lineage and cultivation of that linkage in the new generation. The house represents the sheltering, physical or bodily presence of the family's ancestors in the life of their living descendants. Each part of the structure symbolizes a tribal ancestor's being. At the apex of the gable is a carving called the koruru, or "face of the ancestor." The ridgepole represents the spine. The carved ends of the bargeboards represent the hands of the ancestor, with its design split into fingers. The roof with its outstretched arms embraces the generations of the family within.The interior rafters holding up the roof are the ribs, and the interior space represents the chest and belly where people gather. Carvings and woven wall decorations are also symbolic of the ancestral lineage, recording history through their art. The meeting of the family in the house is an act of remembrance and solidarity extended to all of its members. In the shadow of the ancestors, children would witness important family celebrations and discussion of important decisions.

This historic photograph is featured on a New Zealand postage stamp because of its importance as an element of indigenous cultural heritage. It was taken between 1880 and 1920 by Frank G. Carpenter (1855-1924) or Frances Carpenter (1890-1972). He was an American traveler and writer on cultural anthropology and geography and his daughter Frances illustrated his writings with photographs. Their collection of about 16,800 photographs and 7,000 glass and film negatives is currently housed at the Library of Congress, Washington DC.

The photographic print is a full-length, formal studio portrait of a woman and her daughter from the Pacific Island of Samoa. The photograph was taken by an unknown photographer between 1890 and 1920. The woman and her daughter clearly belong to a prominent family, but they may or may not be royalty. The woman is wearing ornaments and a ring that suggest she is married to a prominent person. The woman and the girl both carry fans made of dried, woven leaves, called ili aupolapola in the indigenous language. The traditional costumes worn by mother and daughter are very similar in design, with the indigenous woven skirt called titi, made of ti leaves. Both wear hair ornaments such as flowers and elaborate necklaces. Their blouses are made of traditional tapa cloth, called siap in Samoa. It is made by soaking and pounding the inner bark of a mulberry-type tree until it is very soft and pliable. The decorative painting on the blouses is nearly identical, as are the fringed necklines of the blouse and skirt. Other fabric was appliquéd to the hem in a zigzag design. The re-creation of a naturalistic backdrop for the photograph may be an indication of rapid change in the society and the focus on preserving the appearance of tradition. The traditional clothing, on the other hand, indicates the effort to assert ethnic identity and preserve traditional crafts at a time when imported Western clothing was becoming available and perhaps norms of women’s dress were changing.

Father Alberto Maria De Agostini, a missionary, took this postcard image on Isla Grande, Tierra del Fuego, on the southernmost tip of South America. The photograph, taken circa 1930, shows a man, woman, and two children walking through a clearing surrounded by thickets. The man and boy are carrying bows and arrows, and the younger child walks close to his or her mother, who is carrying bundles on a frame on her back. The family members wear robes made of guanaco hide, a South American animal similar to a llama. The woman and children are barefoot. The man wears shoes of fur-covered hide and a cone-shaped hat.

This family belongs to the Ona tribe, or Selk'nam, whose existence in the area near the Strait of Magellan can be traced back at least 9,000 years. The Ona, one of several distinct tribes in the region, lived as hunter-gatherers. Europeans have known of this group since Magellan named the land after their fires, which he saw burning on the coast. Charles Darwin described them in the journal of his voyage on the Beagle. Since then, missionaries have visited and lived among them, settlers have displaced and even hunted them, and anthropologists have attempted to study them to understand life in the Stone Age. Death from diseases brought a sharp drop in their population, which had numbered in the thousands. According to the last census of native populations in 1965, only 300 Onas remained. The last full-blooded Ona person died in 1995 in Argentina.