Birds in the Beehive

In the intimate, bespoke exhibition space of Te Papakura within Wellington’s Beehive, avian art by 11 New Zealand artists and an artist collaboration of imaginative papier mâché species were on display from 15 February to 2 April 2023. The exhibition was titled Waiata Manu (Bird Song).

New Zealanders enjoy birds, and birds are popular subjects and motifs in art right across the country. But does our relationship with birds go beyond affection to identity? We are, after all, a nation inhabited by Kiwis - the homosapien variety spelled with a capital K - while the feathered flightless species is an iconic symbol of Aotearoa New Zealand. The affectionate description of New Zealanders as ‘Kiwis’ goes back more than 100 years. But unlike the Kiwi population that has since quadrupled, it has only been through the valiant continued efforts of determined conservationists that the kiwi has survived at all.

Conservation is not an uncommon motivation for a bird exhibition, so therefore unsurprisingly it was a key purpose driving Waiata Manu (Bird Song). For many, the real surprise within the exhibition was the inclusion of New Zealand bird stamps as miniature art forms. The stamps reinforce the idea that New Zealanders love birds, and the stamped identity provided a segway to the realm of the philatelist. For bird enthusiasts and bird stamp collectors, the exhibition was a win-win.

There was an enlarged, framed image of a pigeon on the world’s very first airmail stamp. It was designed for the Auckland to Great Barrier pigeon post service started in 1897 and was attached to the messages, or ‘flimsies’. The stamp hung alongside enlarged digital prints of New Zealand’s very first official bird pictorials of 1898.

New Zealand was one of the first countries to print pictorials, and along with three landscape designs three of the pictorials were birds. The images were selected from submissions in response to a public competition for this purpose.

The winning birds, a kiwi on the sixpence stamp, a pairing of a kea and a kaka on the one shilling stamp, and a male and female huia on the three pence stamp, were rendered in the popular Victorian style of engraved prints with elaborate framings and scrollwork.

The image of a kiwi remains at the forefront of New Zealand birds on stamps. The survival of the kiwi, kea and kaka continues to be concerning. Sadly huia, which were plentiful when they made their debut on a stamp, are now extinct with the last sighting believed to have been around 1906. The lament of the huia and other lost species is a confronting warning to care for our birds.

There were photographs by Chris Patterson depicting the vulnerability of New Zealand’s most critically endangered bird, the tara iti or fairy

Left: 1 1898 pictorial 1s.

2 1898 pictorial 6d.

3 Great Barrier Island Pigeongram 6d. 4 Don

5 tern. With numbers down to 40 and recent chick fatalities and lost eggs following storms, this endangered species requires attention.

The exhibition was launched in the middle of Cyclone Gabrielle. Alex Okhlopkov’s 3D digital painting, Unbroken Song, of whiteheads in a storm acted as a timely and poignant pointer to climate crisis.

Leading bird stamp artist Janet Marshall had 10 endangered bird stamps on view. Her blue duck and brown teal, painted for the 1987 Game Bird and Habitat issue and her two acrylic paintings, Stitch Birds and Fantails with Coprosma in New Zealand bush scenes, were also on display.

There were Cinderella stamps by New Zealand’s iconic bird artist and conservationist Don Binney, for the Independent State of Aramoana. Around 1976 Binney joined forces with other conservationists, artists, and the residents of Aramoana in Otago in a ‘Save Aramoana’ campaign. The protest was against the government’s ‘Think Big’ plans for an aluminium smelter in Aramoana, and included a declaration that the settlement of Aramoana was separate from and independent of the rest of the country. The Cinderellas were miniature reproductions of Binney’s large painting, Puketotara Twice Shy, in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's collection.

One might surmise that the fascination with birds had something to do with the influences they have on people. They are found in the language of metaphor and simile, symbolism and parable. Their song and behaviour are found in whakataukei (Māori proverbs) and in wisdom, literature, poetry, lyrics and music itself.

In fact the connection with te manu (the bird) in Aotearoa New Zealand has a long visual history, evidenced in bird rock drawings of tangata whenua (people of the land) settlements in various locations in Te Waipounamu (the South Island). David Burke’s stamp design for Matariki 2012 drew from these records. The series includes a depiction of the bird man and what is believed to be an embryonic kiwi within an outline of an egg.

The background soundtrack in the exhibition space includes birdsong and waiata, adding another dimension to the viewing. The music was a soundbite of a bird artists’ chorus. Through a range of media - paint, glass, photography, stone, print and contemporary digital art - were expressions of joy, wisdom, urgent warning, identity, and hope.

Other works not mentioned above included Judi Lapsley-Miller’s awardwinning The Secret World of Kakapo, Sophia Minson’s The Heart of the Kaka, sgraffito method prints Tumanko (Hope) and Karakia (Prayer) by Amber Smith, a stone sculpture, Huia, by Bill Devoy; glass birds by Luke Jacombs; Simon Stuart’s tomtit, welcome swallows and kingfishers; shore birds by Martin Lauder and a miniature painting of a huia eye, The Lover’s Eye, curated as an item of jewellery by Minrui Yang.

A digital video exhibition may be accessed by the public through searching Google for ‘Waiata Manu YouTube'.