{"id":466685,"date":"2026-06-08T10:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/466685\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:37:12","slug":"photos-of-taxidermied-new-zealand-birds-represent-the-space-between-life-and-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/466685\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos of Taxidermied New Zealand Birds Represent the Space Between Life and Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"headshot<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, K\u014dkako framed.<\/p>\n

Artist Fiona Pardington<\/a> is giving new life to dead birds. For decades, Pardington has been photographing museum archives. Her latest subjects are taxidermied birds endemic to Aotearoa (New Zealand), which can be seen in her latest exhibition titled Taharaki Skyside. The show is now on display at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the Venice Biennale<\/a> until November 22, 2026.<\/p>\n

Pardington\u2019s collection centers on the relationship between the corporeal and metaphysical. \u201cTaxidermy occupies a unique space between love, death and fetish\u2026 By using strategic lighting and angles, I am trying to draw out their charisma\u2014to free them from the constraints of being mere objects,\u201d she says. With her large-scale portraits, she allows people to engage with each bird, observe its expression and unique beauty, and see firsthand the fragility of biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Pardington is of M\u0101ori and Scottish descent, and the manu (birds) have great cultural and historical significance to the M\u0101ori people. \u201cThe ideas I am conjuring remind us of the integral significance of manu within te ao M\u0101ori\u2014as sources of food and materials, and intermediaries between human and divine worlds,\u201d says Pardington.\n<\/p>\n

Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy also has a spiritual role in this exhibition. The poet\u2019s description of Purgatory as an island in the Southern Hemisphere gives the manu a symbolic place in the threshold between mortal and divine worlds. And just as Purgatory signifies the boundary between life and death, so did birds for the M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

Pre-human Aotearoa was an abundant birdland, shaped over millennia in the absence of land mammals, where birds evolved to fill every ecological niche. That world quickly broke after the arrival of humans. Among the species Pardington has photographed are the huia and the wh\u0113kau, or laughing owl, which have been extinct since the early 20th century. Others in the series are not extinct but remain critically vulnerable, a fact that Pardington\u2019s photography aims to point out. Furthermore, she is reflecting the complex histories of colonization and colonial collecting, scientific classification, and cultural loss. Evolving without natural predators left many Aotearoa bird species defenseless when humans arrived and introduced invasive predators.<\/p>\n

Just as Purgatory signifies the boundary between life and death, so did the manu, and now so does Pardington with modern technology. Although they are dead, the birds live on in this exhibition, with their species bringing more attention to their importance by Pardington and people like her.<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington\u2019s large-scale photography is raising awareness of the unique extinct and endangered bird species of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and their symbolism.
\n\"Small<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, Huia framed.<\/p>\n

Pardington aims to capture the birds\u2019 charisma and portray them as more than objects but as real species with ecological and cultural significance.
\n\"white<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, Tui aberrant white framed.<\/p>\n

The birds are historically important to the native M\u0101ori people as a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms.
\n\"white<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, K\u0101k\u0101 Kura framed<\/p>\n

Pardington also cites Dante\u2019s Purgatory, which is described as an island in the Southern Hemisphere similar to New Zealand and a symbolic threshold between mortal and divine worlds, as the M\u0101ori believed.
\n\"black<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, Tawaki framed.<\/p>\n

Dante, the M\u0101ori, and Pardington mention the significance of the Aotearoa manu (birds), and now Pardington is using contemporary art to raise awareness and hopefully protect what\u2019s left.
\n\"blue<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, Takah\u0113 framed.<\/p>\n

\"black<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, P\u0101ngurunguru framed.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, K\u014dmiromiro framed<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d framed.<\/p>\n

\"headshot<\/p>\n

Fiona Pardington, Taharaki Skyside, Toroa framed<\/p>\n

\"left<\/p>\n

Exhibition Information:
Fiona Pardington
Taharaki Skyside
May 9, 2026\u2013November 22, 2026
Istituto Provinciale per l\u2019Infanzia \u201cSanta Maria della Piet\u00e0\u201d
Riva degli Schiavoni, 3702, 30122 Venice VE, Italy
\nFiona Pardington: Instagram<\/a>
\nSources: Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington\u2019s Portraits<\/a>, museum-held birds become portraits of ecological loss at new zealand pavilion in venice<\/a>
\nRelated Articles:
\nEmotional Bird Photos Capture the Exquisite Diversity of Our Feathered Friends<\/a>
\nAfter Three Summers, Man Finally Gets Photos of Hummingbird With Rainbow Wings<\/a>
\nAdventurous Bird Crashing Into a Waterfall Wins Nature Photography Contest<\/a>
\n