The Huia & our Tears
22 October—10 November
I never did see huia foraging about on the trunk of a tall tree fern, but I knew a man who had.
Raymond Ching is a New Zealander whose paintings are widely celebrated for their life-like realism. Throughout his career he has researched New Zealand’s extinct bird, the huia. His first huia pair was obtained from the Wellington taxidermist Clarence Poynter in 1966 and huia have regularly featured in his paintings and writing since then. In 2023 Ching repatriated two huia skulls from his collection to the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
Huia are difficult birds to paint. They are difficult because neither you nor I have seen these birds foraging about the forest floor with their beautiful ivory-coloured beaks and can’t just exactly know of their movements. Perhaps above all, they are made difficult to paint because huia are so very much more than just beautiful forest birds; we have all of us so much invested in these birds, pride that such birds be born to these islands of ours and guilt that we should have allowed them to be lost.
Featured artwork: In a Forest Together They Danced and Sang
