Fiona Pardington | Taharaki Skyside Venice Biennale 2026

Fiona Pardington | Taharaki Skyside
Venice Biennale 2026 STARKWHITE

1 – 17

Fiona Pardington, Kākā kura, Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis, colour morph,
Rangataua, Tongariro; collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 001127),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

2 – 17

Kororā, Little blue penguin, Eudyptula minor;
collection of the Australian Museum (AM 0.75050),
Sydney, Australia, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

3 – 17

Kōmiromiro, Tomtit, Petroica macrocephala, leucistic, adult male, Whakatū Nelson;
collection of Canterbury Museum (AV 2651),
Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

4 – 17

Tawaki, Fiordland crested penguin, Eudyptes pachyrhynchus;
collection of South Canterbury Museum (2008/157.1),
Timaru, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

5 – 17

Tūī, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, aberrant white specimen;
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 026541),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

6 – 17

Pāngurunguru, Southern giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus;
collection of the Australian Museum (AM 0.79963),
Sydney, Australia, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

7 – 17

Kea, Nestor notabilis; collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
(OR. 025074), Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

8 – 17

Toroa-teoteo, Buller’s southern mollymawk, Thalassarche bulleri bulleri, adult, Hautere Solander Islands,
June 1933; collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum (LB4292),
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

9 – 17

Kākāpō (Rhys), Strigops habroptilus, adult male, Mana Island, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington,
1993; collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 025019),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

10 – 17

Kākā, Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis, adult male, Taupō, 1988;
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 023872),
Te Whanganui a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

11 – 17

Matuku-hūrepo, Australasian bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus;
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa OR. 026549),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

12 – 17

North Island kōkako, Callaeas wilsoni, albino, Remutaka Range, 30 June 1883;
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 000167),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

13 – 17

Tūī, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae;
collection of South Canterbury Museum (2011/211.1),
Timaru, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

14 – 17

Whēkau, Laughing owl, Ninox albifacies, adult male;
collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (OR. 030061),
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

15 – 17

Huia, Heteralocha acutirostris, adult female, deposited 19 April 1967;
collection of Canterbury Museum (AV 21,289),
Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025, 2026
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

16 – 17

Toroa, Southern royal albatross, Diomedea epomophora;
collection of South Canterbury Museum (2025/078.1),
Timaru, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2024
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

17 – 17

Moho, South Island takahē, Porphyrio hochstetteri, probable sub-adult, Deas Cove, Thompson Sound,
Te Rua-o-te-Moko Fiordland, 1851; collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
(OR. 022236), Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025
Pigment inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag, 1897h x 1458w mm

Presented by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa | Creative New Zealand and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will feature Taharaki Skyside, Fiona Pardington’s powerful new series of large-scale photographs. Pardington (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Clan Cameron of Erracht) turns her lens on taxidermied birds held in museum collections across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia: specimens shaped by the intertwined histories of colonial collecting, scientific classification and cultural loss. Focusing on species endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand, and working through Dante’s poetic vision of the Southern Hemisphere as the location of Purgatory, her portraits honour the deep spiritual and cultural significance of these manu (birds) to Māori, while confronting the legacies that placed many of them in vitrines rather than in the wild. Some, like the huia and whēkau (laughing owl), are long extinct; many others remain critically vulnerable. Pardington’s eye and lens reveal details that will surprise even New Zealand audiences and underscore the fragile, irreplaceable biodiversity at the heart of Pardington’s practice.

Visiting the Exhibition

Pietà Venezia, Castello 3701, Venezia

9 May – 22 November, 11:00 – 19:00

Vernissage: 6 – 8 May, 10:00 – 19:00

Closed Mondays