KA KORIKI TE MANU / THE CHORUS OF BIRDS 'Hinemokomoki', WHEKAU,...
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Fiona Pardington
b.1961
Kāi Tahu, Māori
Kāti Māmoe, Māori
Ngāti Kahungunu, Māori
Title
KA KORIKI TE MANU / THE CHORUS OF BIRDS 'Hinemokomoki', WHEKAU, Laughing Owl, AV5736 Otago Museum
Details
| Production Date | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Collection(s) | Collection Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth. Acquired with assistance from the Govett-Brewster Foundation. |
| Accession Number | 2008/23 |
| Edition | 1 of 5 |
| Media | Gold toned gelatin silver photograph taken with a 4 x 5" Sinar camera printed on fibre based archival paper |
| Measurements | Support: 610 x 508mm; Framed: 1070 x 880 x 40mm |
About
Ko te tangi a te whekau, arā, he rūrū noho toka, he tohu o aituā. Kua korehāhā ināianei, ā, kua mū noa atu. Ka kitea i tēnei whakaahua, tā Fiona Pardington tango mai i tēnei taonga, i te kohikohinga o te whare pupuru taonga o Ōtakou, ki te ao mārama.
Kua piri tonu te katoa o tōna kahu huruhuru, ā, ka kī tōnu tōna tapa ki hōna huruhuru rerehua, he mangu, he tea tonu ngā kano. Ka rangona tōna mauri i ngā mata whakaata. Ko te ū tonu o ngā mata e whakararu hoki ana i te kawatau o te māhakitanga i te tūtakitanga ki tētehi mea kua mate kē.
Ko te pito tonu o ngā kaponga a Pardington i ngā kohikohinga o ngā whare pupuru taonga, o nāianei, o mua hoki, te pūtake o te hononga noa a te kaimātai ki te marau e mātaihia ana.
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The call of the Whekau, rock owl, can be a warning of misfortune. Now extinct, its voice has fallen silent. In this photograph Fiona Pardington brings this taonga from the Otago Museum collection out of archives and into the light.
The owl’s feathered body seems to retain its bulk and fills the frame with feathers bathed in delicate tones between black and white. The sense of a mauri (life-force) is enriched by the reflective, shiny eye. The unmoving gaze of the bird subverts expectations of a passive encounter with a lifeless specimen.
The creation of an intangible connection between viewer and subject, the present and the past, is central to Pardington’s images from museum collections.
— Text developed for Te Hau Whakatonu: A Series of Never-ending Beginnings (5 August 2023–11 February 2024), curated by Taarati Taiaroa
