Aotearoa New Zealand – the land of beautiful birds. In a country lacking big (and scary) animals, birds have become New Zealand’s special sense of pride and joy of difference. This exhibition from the New Zealand Museum of the Everyday showcases the surprising variety of native birds that have flitted through the Pākehā domestic environment in the twentieth century. From the creative experiments of amateurs to mass-produced commercial products, birds have been an important and constant subject in the high and low objects that surround New Zealanders. This exhibition has been curated for Marlborough by the New Zealand Museum of the Everyday – an Auckland-based collection which celebrates the crafted and manufactured history of New Zealand’s domestic interior.

Kiwi in the Kitchen: An Eccentric History of Birds in the New Zealand Home

From wooden bellows embellished with a hand-painted tūī to a shell covered Kiwi figurine, Kiwi in the Kitchen demonstrates how designs and motifs of native birds are highly visible in the domestic environment of 20th century Aotearoa. Sourced from the New Zealand Museum of the Everyday – which celebrates the crafted and manufactured history of New Zealand’s domestic interior – the collection of objects includes the kitsch, the quirky, the creative endeavours of amateurs and mass-produced commercial kiwiana.