Fiona Pardington

Tilted back and lifting from the darkness, a single matukuhūrepo (Australasian bittern) stretches toward the edge of the frame. Light catches its dappled neck, head and bladelike beak, drawing the rare bird into sharp focus.Photographed by Fiona Pardington from a taxidermy specimen in the South Canterbury Museum collection, the work presents a monumental portrait. In te ao Māori, the matuku is a wetland taoka associated with stillness and concealment, its distant booming call long woven into waiata and whakataukī as an image of solitude and intensity.

te ao Māori ~ the Māori world taoka ~ treasure, thing of cultural value waiata ~ song whakataukī ~ proverbs, sayings

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