PARDINGTON, Fiona, 1961-
Little River Hei Tiki, (female, Ngai Tahu) (Maori)
Pregnant with mystery, this huge image of a hei
tiki glowing against a dark background is
magnetically attractive. It is one of a range of
Cinderella artefacts – those deemed by curators
as too imperfect to exhibit – brought to light by
Ngai Tahu photographer Fiona Pardington.
Working towards her MFA at the Elam School of
Fine Arts in 2002-2003, she trawled through
collections of her iwi’s taonga at Auckland
Museum and Okains Bay Mäori and Colonial
Museum on Banks Peninsula. It took her up to
18 months to seek and obtain permission from
each relevant hapu to photograph their taonga
for this project.