Dane Mitchell

This sculpture makes absence tangible. Consisting of a conspicuously empty museum mount, a structure designed to support an object for display, the airy vacant space prompts us to imagine the large creature it should hold: the South Island giant moa, Dinornis robustus. From archaeological evidence we understand this now-extinct bird was a tall, flightless herbivore. Yet, we must visualise this ourselves. The work is one of a series, together titled the Unknown Affinities, that Dane Mitchell made as a poignant reflection on the accumulated loss of species due to human action, or inaction, and climate extinction. In his use of the mount form, Mitchell also points to the complicity of museums in the process—the problematic nature of collecting and collections.

(Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu 15 August 2026 – 8 February 2027)