WAIATA MANU CATALOGUE - Somervell Presbyterian Church
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Hutia te rito ō te harakeke, kei whea te korimako ekō? Ka rere ki uta, ka rere ki tai. Kī mai koe ki au, he aha te mea nui i te ao? Māku e kī atu, He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! If you pluck the heart out of the flax bush, where will the bellbird sing? It will fly aimlessly in land, it will fly seawards. If you ask me, what is the most important thing in the world? I will reply, it is the People! The People! The People!1 1 A whakataukī from the Far North detailed by Joan Metge and Shane Jones in ‘He Taonga Tuku Iho nō Ngā Tūpuna Māori proverbial sayins - a literary treasure’, New Zealand Studies, July 1996, p. 3, their translation slightly modified here. They interpret the final line as a warning to unify people toward a shared goal.
Foreword Welcome to Somervell Church’s Waiata Manu exhibition. It is so wonderful to see months of hard work and dedication come to fruition in this beautiful collection of images and artefacts. As a new migrant to Aotearoa, it’s hard to ignore the role that birds play in New Zealand’s cultural landscape. Birds, and birdsong, are one of the key things I think of when I close my eyes and imagine the land of the long white cloud. This exhibition is also important as it gives rise to our calling to participate in the care and conservation of God’s good creation. Beauty helps us to see the world in ways that awaken our senses, our passions, and quicken our consciences. In this exhibition you will no doubt see the ways in which birds are integral to our self understanding as Kiwis. Our great hope is that this invitation to see, will lead you to act on behalf of the wonderful array of diverse birds we have here in New Zealand. This exhibition has been a labour of love, but it has also been challenging. While the pandemic has frustrated our best laid plans, it is encouraging to see this exhibition finally be realised. Beauty always finds a way of breaking through our darkest moments, and like the first sounding of the dawn’s chorus of birdsong, it reminds us that darkness will not last always, that the hope of a new day is near. We need that hope now more than ever. So welcome and enjoy, Waiata Manu! Reverend Ivan Martinez 1
Our connection with te manu (the bird) in Aotearoa, New Zealand has a long and unique visual history as evidenced in bird rock drawings of Tangata Whenua settlements in various locations in Te Waipounamu, the South Island. Interpretation of these first human voices from the past still echo in this exhibition space within the art of stamps.2 The connection continues through Whakataukī wisdom, and in a diversity of artworks, while bird songs and waiata release the breath of this aesthetic experience, bringing it to life. 2 Dave Burke design print offset lithography. 2
New Zealand bird stamps are a specialised art print miniature that trace a histori- cal trajectory we have called Stamped in our Identity. The state’s active role in framing national identity became clear in 1898 when it selected the kiwi as one of the first pictorial postage stamps to represent this land, gradually reframing these images in new bird stamps over time. Globally, too, when a particular form of national identity becomes fixed as cliché, artists bring new creations to life. Biomimicry is a contemporary buzz word in the sciences where birds also teach aviation engineers looking for innovative and creative solutions to sustainable and better aviation. The precise and minute movement of wings and feathers in modes of flight are analysed, while astonishingly complex migratory patterns remind us of our global interconnectedness. We have much to learn about New Zealand’s endemic migratory birds, and our flightless species mark unique modes of adapta- tion to this environment. In the current context of climate change with fragile ecosystems in crisis, a focus on waiata manu prompts us to contemplate ways of becoming more responsible guardians of nature, Mother Earth, Papatūānuku. The artists included in this exhibi- tion share an underlying ethos that interconnects the manu to the whenua, to the land, and to us3, in innovative ways. The iconic bird artist and ornithologist Donald Hall Binney (1940-2012) lays the groundwork for Voices of Conservation artworks that coordinate “bird and landform” in symbiosis, progressing to his active engage- ment in protecting the environment. Nigel Brown joins Binney as an established voice for conservation. Artworks by Tāngata Whenua suggest a range of voices joining these first works in diverse ways. Several artists here mention the therapeutic and inspirational value of birdsong during lockdownperiods in the current pandemic, leading to a desire to capture the moment in varied forms of Realism, in Photographing Manu and Digital Painting. To release the spirit of the bird in three dimensions, Songs of the Sculptors offer further interpretations of the birds’ connection to us and to the land. We especially perceive a haunting, melancholic descant of the huia, in a metaphorical call to guardianship. 3 In te reo Māori, whenua also means “placenta” 4 Ruka, J. Huia come Home, helped to shape a kaupapa, or purpose of this exhibition 3
Imagine this exhibition, Waiata Manu, bird song, as an artists’ chorus. As you hear the birds, see the birds, listen and look… but listen also to the voices of their artistic creators – what are they singing, as they invite you to ponder the avian art before you. Waiata Manu advocates conservation action as we celebrate the beauty and mystery of birds through the art and craft of painters, sculptors, glass artists, photographers, digital artists, print makers, musicians, and writers. We consider birds, in all their various forms, within the landscapes of Aotearoa as a part of a shared identity often fixed as Kiwi. Perhaps it is because birds are, significantly, the principal everyday wildlife that we experience. 4
Stamped in Our Identity New Zealand Stamp collectors tell the story of the world’s very first airmail stamp. It was for an airmail service begun in 1897 between Aotea Great Barrier Island and Auckland: The Pigeon Post. This was one year before a new and fledging State, (that had experienced over three decades of internal warfare and three capital townships), produced the “official” bird-stamp pictorials. The only link between Auckland and Great Barrier then was by steamer, and this proved to be inadequate for urgent communication, so The Pigeon Post airmail service was devised. Pigeons could carry up to four messages at a time. The mes- sage was written on a lightweight tissue paper, called a “flimsy” upon which the triangular pigeon post stamp was adhered, and the message attached to the bird’s legs. Instead of the hours via surface mail, it took the birds approximately 55 minutes to complete the journey. There was a variance in postage cost; from Auck- land to Great Barrier, it was one shilling, whereas in reverse it was sixpence due to the greater effort required to train the birds to fly to Great Barrier than to teach them to fly home to Auckland. Triangular stamps were printed for this local use but drew disapproval from the national philatelic societies, who warned collectors that they were not “official” stamps. The service lasted over eleven years and only ceased after an underwater telegram cable was laid in 1908 which proved to be more efficient. 6
Becoming the Nation-State of New Zealand: 1898 Stamp Pictorials The image on a stamp is a specialised example of a miniature art print. The history of stamp design print has its roots in the tradition of the English “popular” image, the affordable and more readily available images used for engravings in children’s picture books or in the transfers produced for designs on ceramics. The first postage stamp produced in the world, the Penny Black (1840) bears a portrait of Queen Victoria and was produced in the year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. New Zealand did not produce its own stamps until some fifteen years later, and unsurprisingly, followed the colonial practice portraying the ruling monarch and revenue value of the stamp. In 1898, New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to issue stamps bearing pictures - “pictorials” through a competition inviting artists to submit their proposals to promote New Zealand. The winning artists for the first pictorials in 1898 showcased New Zealand landscape and birds. So it was that the original brown kiwi5 made its stamp debut with three other species: a pair of Huia on the threepence postage stamp and a pairing of the kea and kaka on a one shilling stamp. Kiwi, 1898 Kaka and Kea, 1898 Huia, 1898 5 1898 sixpence stamp; a flightless upright kiwi set in a painted diorama within a horseshoe shaped frame, can be distinguished from the red 1935 stamp, where the illustrator has the Kiwi standing beside a cabbage tree and bent over slightly facing the ground. 7
A survey of numerous birds on New Zealand stamps substantiates the exhibition premise that birds play a key role in the portrayal of a New Zealand national identi- ty. Since their introduction, birds on pictorial stamps have consistently contributed to postal revenue. From a Victorian fervour of empirical and imperial motivation, where New Zealand’s first birds on stamps are engraved and captured within elaborate Victori- an framings reflecting a sense of the exotic acquisition or the taxidermist speci- men, to the strong conservation objectives of the Predator Free Series issued in 2019 and the photographic design of the Kakariki series of 2020, bird art, like the Nation, has evolved with bird stamp designers creating from their own milieu. In the late nineteenth century, the leading Pākehā authority on New Zealand birds was New Zealand born Walter Lawry Buller, the author of A History of the Birds of New Zealand,6 with illustrations by Dutch born artist JG Keulemans. Keulemans never visited New Zealand but rendered his illustrations from Buller’s descriptions and sketches and from skins.7 Keuleman’s Kea and Kaka and a beautiful pair of Huia illustrated by Keulemans in Buller’s catalogue bear a striking resemblance to the miniaturised birds printed on the 1898 New Zealand pictorial bird stamps, with commentators crediting Keulemans for the Kea and Kaka illustration.8 Undoubtedly, Keulemans’ birds have influenced New Zealand bird artists then and now and the illustration plates for Buller’s birds continue to be admired in later reprints. 6 The History of the Birds of New Zealand by Walter Buller was published in two editions in the 19th Century; edited and brought up to date by E.G. Turbott, Buller’s Birds of New Zealand, publisher Whitcombe and Tombes 1967. It received new treatment by Geoff Norman in Buller’s Birds of New Zealand – The Complete Work of JG Keulemans, Te Papa Press 2012. 7 A term used to describe the skin and external features of a species kept for study or taxidermy. 8 Campbell and Patterson’s guide for stamp collectors, credits designers W.R Bock for the design of the Huia and Kea and Kaka, and E Bock for the Kiwi (loose leaf Catalogue of New Zealand Stamps Published 1855 to the present day). This may be a reference to the designer who created the philately lithographic plate. 8
Through the support of local philatelists and New Zealand Post Collectibles, an installation The Stamp Collector’s Birds offers for viewing a complete collection of New Zealand bird stamps produced to represent the Country since 1897. The purely artistic illustrative colonial renditions of birds soon become intertwined with a growing conservation concern. A light-hearted Kiwi affection for the birds along with a dry humour is sometimes observed, as with the stamp “A kea ate my car”. Also, dynamic cultural changes are evidenced through a bird image with the meta- phors that accompany such imagery, as with pictures of Roosters celebrating the Chinese Year of the Rooster. There is a growing list of artists whose birds have featured on New Zealand stamps. The options available today for creating and producing the miniature art prints is a topic by itself. Digital technology and ever new printing processes have enhanced artistic possibility. 9
Huia: Haere Ra — Haere Mai Of the original ensemble of New Zealand stamp birds, the huia, last sighted in 1907, is now extinct, offering a sobering lesson. Much has been written about this species of bird. Most Tangata whenua communities recall the role of Manu Huia as the bird anointed to inform Tāne that he was to receive the three baskets of knowl- edge from the highest of twelve heavens, each of which is remembered in the twelve white tipped feathers of Manu Huia’s tail. These feathers brought mana to those who wore them, so highly valued they were traded across the islands and kept in special carved wooden waka huia, (recalled in sculptures of Tai Meuli and Bill Devoy in this exhibition, images below). In the nineteenth century, European ornithologists identified the huia as Heteralo- chaacutirostris; a member of the wattle family. This family of songbirds includes the tui, tīeke (saddleback), hihi (stitchbird) and kōkako. They brought fresh excitement to Europeans in their colonial and empirical pursuits in ‘exotic’ lands, seeing these elegant songbirds as fair game for those who collected their skins for study or display in private and natural museum collections. As heir to the throne, the Duke of York visited New Zealand in 1901 and was presented with a huia feather that he placed in his hatband, causing the feathers to become a much sought-after fashion commodity. Their black beauty and golden poi, contrasting white tipped tail feath- ers, and unique differences of the male and female beaks, made them valued possessions for Pākehā collectors. Conservation concerns expressed by both Māori and Pākehā and efforts to try to preserve the species proved unsuccessful. Introduced predators, deforestation, and private agendas for commerce or science resulted in their extinction. An inspiration in this exhibition is John Ruka ‘s book Huia Come Home9 which recounts the tragic loss of the species. He uses the huia story as a metaphor of loss; loss of aspects of Te Ao Māori; loss of trust; loss of opportunity for a flourish- ing harmonious bicultural guardianship of Aotearoa, and a loss of the opportunity for positive developments within the Church. By engaging with this contemporary huia parable, he implores all New Zealanders to come together; Māori and non-Māori, and for all New Zealanders in a spirit of co-operation and goodwill to work for balance and harmonious race relations and guardianship. Ruka urges the huia to come home. 9 J Ruka, Huia Come Home Tomanakoe, Oati publisher, 2018 10
Huia, 1996 Wahine Māori wearing Huia feathers, 1935
Voice of Conservation Donald Hall Binney (1940 - 2012) Fat Bird, 1964, oil on hardboard, 753 x 603 Private Collection, Auckland 12
Celebrated as New Zealand’s modern and renowned bird artist, Donald Binney opens this section on conservation with ever changing images of birds. The tomtit happens upon the viewer suddenly, in black, white, and grey shading tinged with ochre. Fat Bird fills the frame through this shared lens of Binney’s bird watching binoculars zooming in and capturing stylised features, as he did with his other birds in the 1960s, making them larger than life, disproportionate to their surrounds, and leaving no doubt that the bird is the focal point. Kōmiromiro (tomtit) were considered sacred by Tangata whenua and were consid- ered bearers of good news. If one was described with the phrase ‘he kanohi kōmi- romiro’ (having the eye of a tomtit) it implied a careful observer, as the tomtit looks for small insects. Binney explains the connection of the graphic line forms and structure of the bird with line forms and structure of the land: I think a characteristic of this, and a lot of work from this period, is the struc- tural coordination of bird and landform…Physical resonance between one shape and the other. Why? Because as an ornithologist I've always been thoroughly involved in the way in which land, the environment the creature lives in, modifies the creature. The creature also of course modifies the land: it's symbiosis really, isn't it?10 This was a characteristic of his oeuvre even as he readjusted the compositional dimensions in later decades to include more of the bird’s surrounds. Around the ‘70s the perspective zooms out for the viewer to glance at more land and sky while retaining the stylised design components of the landscape mirrored in the bird. For example, in Puketōtara- Twice Shy (1977, oil on canvas, 1807mm x 1353mm, Museum of Te Papa), which appears on a Cinderella stamp, the bittern, although large, does not occupy the greater portion of the canvas as with Fat Bird. 10 Sheridan Keith ‘A conversation with Don Binney’ Art New Zealand 28, 1983 https://www.artnewzealand.com/Issues21to30/binney 13
Puketōtara - Twice Shy, 1977 Image courtesy - Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa (1977-0024-1) and The Donald Binney Estate 14
A keen ornithologist and artist in one, Binney had a love of birds that matched his concern for their habitat. An artist who remained loyal to his Anglican faith, he was erudite, sophisticated and came from privilege. It was during his secondary educa- tion at the exclusive Kings College in Auckland that he first took up bird watching, and it proved to be a preoccupation that brought focus to his art. It was said of him that he was able to pronounce the scientific classifications equally alongside the Māori names for birds. Of interest to stamp and art collectors, art historians and conservationists is Binney’s Cinderella stamp11 featuring Binney’s painting Puketōtara Twice Shy. In the 1980s the New Zealand Government launched an economic plan under the National Party leadership of Robert Muldoon, dubbed “Think Big”. One of the many schemes was the proposal for an aluminium smelter to boost the country’s reve- nue, to be built in North Otago’s Aramoana. The residents of the township of Aramoana were having none of it, and supported by environmentalists around the country, strongly resisted by declaring themselves the “Independent State of Aramoana”. Launching a campaign to demonstrate not only against building a smelter on their turf but their independence from New Zealand, they issued their own stamps. Ralph Hotere and Don Binney hastened to their support with artwork printed on stamps for this newly formed “State”. In the original painting, an oil on canvas in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the bird is identified as an Australian bittern (matuku) soaring above Te Henga – (Bethels Beach) on Puketōtara - Twice Shy (Cinderella Stamp) 11 A stamp produced, but not authorised as official for use on postage. 15
Auckland’s West Coast.12 This poses the question as to why Binney would choose Te Henga as a backdrop yet identify Puketōtara in the title. Binney was also fond of Puketōtara in Northland’s Keri Keri. However, in an earlier related painting, Puketōtara Once Bittern (oil on board signed and dated 1972) commentary does not suggest a locality other than Puketōtara. Is there more happening here than the first glance play on words- Once Bittern (bitten) …Twice Shy? The bittern, a bird found in wetlands all over New Zealand, is said to be a mysteri- ous, shy species, described as “cryptic”. When threatened, it resorts to camouflage, by adopting an upright reedlike posture when intruded upon, rather than resorting to flight. In the ambiguity of locale is Binney employing the cryptic nature of the bird in camouflage, with a concealing of the location? When one again considers the setting for the bittern, in the use of this painting on the Cinderella stamp issued for the Independent State of Aramoana in 1981, the viewer understandably assumes a correlation between the place of Aramoana and the bittern. It has been said of Binney when asked of his paintings, “Where is this place?” Binney replied, “It is wherever resonates with you.”13 Perhaps Binney is giving himself permission to be liberated from being too tied to a specific locale, a point on which he was at one period criticised by sectors of the New Zealand artworld looking to international trends. Binney is surely inviting his viewer or interpreter also to be free… as a bird. By the 1980s and after an apparent slowing down in his popularity, Binney ventures into new media and techniques including screen-print and photography. This makes his work more accessible to ownership. In Kaiarara Kaka, Great Barrier, (Screen-print 28/150 1982. 585x835, private collection, Auckland) Binney’s kaka which now occupies just a third of the canvas is flying over Great Barrier’s Kaiaraara track, surveying the lie of the land. 12 An assertion in the Te Papa text accompanying the online exhibit. 13 https://thediversiongallery.co.nz/artist/binney/#more-info 16
Kaiarara Kaka, Great Barrier 1982, Screen-print 28/150, 585x835 Private Collection, Auckland 17
La Chute d'lcare Pureora (The Fall of Icarus): Last Flight of the Kōkako 1979 2110mm x 910mm Oil on board, Offset open print on display courtesy of Fish Mob based on the original Don Binney, oil on board, 2130x930mm, Private Collection 18
A Note from Warwick Brown quoted in Webb’s Auction Portal 2020 “…In the 1980s, … A national environmental group asked Don to create an image that it could use in producing a greeting card for fundraising purposes. This painting was the result. As yet, I did not own a Binney and the moment I set eyes on it I knew I had to have it. Don was pleased that I had bought it because we were both conservationists. All in all, the work possesses a compositional precision and rigour which places it alongside the very finest of Don's great bird paintings of the 1960s: utilising the classic two-thirds/one-third vertical ratio, the kōkako, completely enchanting in its scale and splendour, physically dominates the canvas.”14 This work was a response to the threatened West Taupo Forest habitat of the kōkako, posed by government logging proposals. 14 https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/m/lotdetails/index/catalog/45/lot/ 5223/DON-BINNEY-LaChute-d-lcare-Pureora-Last-Flight-of-the-Kokako 19
Nigel Brown (1949 - ) Nigel Brown’s concern for the natural world is seen in the strong elements of his compositions: a series of his works with their stamp-like effect within a strong double border, intaglio- like dots portraying the cellular; and earth, grain, seeds throughout the contained composition with a limited palette.14 A clear conservation call rings out from these works Tui for Wholeness and Kākāpō, part of a series of lament and warning over the loss of wildlife and habitat: a writing on the wall. There is much happening in these works. In each painting, Brown’s environmental- ist is dressed in a black singlet looking upon the bird with an apparent concern, endearing us to this “Kiwi” bloke who, with great sensitivity, allows the bird to rest on his person. He in turn is supported by his “mate”. Combined with the words fram- ing the figures, these paintings are poignant signposts to caring for the land and the interdependency between birds and nature, and people and nature. Juxtaposing these works with those of Binney, discerning viewers and “listeners” to the Waiata Manu chorus may observe a discord between the Fred-Dagg fashion of the black singlet in Brown’s works, and Binney’s direct repudiation of being perceived as a “black singlet conservationist”.15 Yet within their distinct differences in painting birds there is resolve and harmony in the acknowledgement of the unity of the environment, wildlife and human. In Kākāpō, Brown uses text to invite us to consider the ornithological identity of the species, inscribing the fact that the bird is the world’s “largest parrot”, and identify- ing the “Lek mating” breeding method of Kākāpō, a modus operandi unique to this breed. It is for the viewer to interpret the other message, “Anchor Me”. 15 Brown has described his paintings with dots as his “star cluster paintings” for he is not seeking to evoke pointillism or the techniques of aboriginal dotted painting but a build up of paint jabs that magnified resemble stars. ( See Browns notes in the exhibition Bird in the hand exhibition 2017) 16 https://www.nigelbrown.co.nz/about/writing/don-binney/ 20
Tui for Wholeness 2016, acrylic on canvas, 900 x 700 Kākāpō 2015, acrylic on linen, 933 x 634 x 50 Private Collection, Auckland 21
All Life 2018, acrylic on canvas, 294 x 240 22
Voices of the Tāngata Whenua Amber Smith In the artists’ chorus, listen out for a contemporary “counterpoint”16 to Pākehā artists. This counterpoint includes the voice of Tangata Whenua represented in artists like Sofia Minson’s The Heart of the Kākā and Amber Smith’s Tumanako and Karakia, where Māori knowledge and wisdom in proverbs and prayer blend seam- lessly with the art. Amber is a ceramic artist and printmaker based in Whakatū (Nelson). She draws inspiration from Te Ao Māori and nature. Her aim is to spread messages of love, hope and self-worth through her ceramics and prints. She uses the sgrafitto print method for her prints. In her print Tumanko, three tuis flit about a stylised landscape within Aotearoa that encapsulates elements recited in the pepeha - the Māori introduction of oneself that finds identity in the land- scape: te maunga - the mountain, and te awa - the body of water, along with whakapapa. In combining Whakataukī (Māori proverbs) and waiata (Māori songs), both in te reo Māori and English within her work, she hopes to educate and connect. The wisdom, in her words “…lending a beautiful feeling to the art” Limited edition and signed prints are gifted by the artist to Waiata Manu to raise funds for the endangered fairy tern. In music theory counterpoint is a compositional technique in which two or more melodic lines (or "voices") 17 complement one another but act independently. Composers use counterpoint to create polyphonic music. 24
Korihi ake nga manu Takiri mai te ata Ka oa ka oa ka awatea Tihei mauri ora The birds call, the day begins, and I am alive! Tumanako Kia horo te marino Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana Kia tere karohirohi I mua I tou huarahi May calm be spread all around you May the sea glisten like greenstone And the shimmer of Summer dance across your path Karakia 25
Sofia Minson Contemporary artist Sofia Minson was born in Auckland. She takes inspiration from landscape, the stories of Aotearoa and her mixed races; Ngāti Porou , Swed- ish, English, and Irish heritages. She celebrates the storytelling and wisdom of culturally diverse ancestors in a modern world. In her 2018 painting The Heart of Kākā she combines a digitally created Victorian wallpaper as a backdrop to an earlier work, combining the past and the present, while the spiral motifs on the kaka add another layer of interpretation. Te tōrino haere whakamua, whakamuri. At the same time as the spiral is going forward, it is returning 26
The Heart of the Kākā 2018 27
Songs of the Sculptors: Releasing the Bird Tai Meuli Tai Meuli, a sculptor for twenty five years, has an affinty with stone. He employs traditional carving reflecting kotahitanga, unity in this contemporary version of a waka huia. The waka huia, a symbol of honour, was used to house the feathers of the huia. Traditionally the waka huia was a Māori taonga ornament that was gifted to a Chief’s lineage and would hold the feather of our Huia Bird. The iconic huia was the largest of the five New Zealand wattlebird species. This waka huia was created in remembrance of our Huia Bird and its status that was held within the Māori culture. Tai Meuli Waka Huia 2021, totara - waka/canoe Tākaka marble - lid, greenstone - handles, silky oak- base 28
Bill Devoy Huia 2021, black takaka stone Private Collection, Auckland Devoy’s stone and timber sculptures are a beauty to behold, combining masterly craftsmanship with artistic instinct and a knowledge and passion for birds that is readily discerned. Bill Devoy’s striking female Huia, is a brilliantly crafted reminder of the huia story carved in black Takaka stone giving a sense of permanence to this species. Curled into her tail feathers in a posture of sleep, she watches. 29
The tui, a much-loved songbird is renowned for its double voice box unique to this species. Sculpted from Raglan Basalt, the tui, drawn to the white marble kowhai blooms, perches upside down on the trunk of a tree made of alpine stone. The bird is a wonder of craftsmanship but is more than this. For centuries, sculptors speak of releasing the art or the being within the stone. Devoy brings forth the bird from rock, freeing its spirit, that it might take flight. Birds, after all, should be free. This work is then a metaphor for the song of the soul set free. Rere, Take Flight 2021 Tui - Raglan basalt; Base - blackwood, kowhai; Trunk - alpine stone 700 x 330 x 250 30
Minrui Yang Exquisitely beautiful and intimate, the lover’s eye brooches created by Yang are a treasure. She is inspired by the popular 17th century Georgian art trope, where the painted or sketched eye of a loved one, framed within an item of jewellery such as a brooch, communicated intimacy and endearment. Eyes have long been consid- ered windows to the soul and these miniature gems invite an introspective search- ing. But when Yang transfers the lover’s eye to a painting of a bird’s eye with all its connotations of peripheral vision, the eye of the huia, a symbol of kaitiaki,18 it becomes visionary and watchful. The Lover’s Eye 2021, acrylic on paper, mixed media - paua, bronze 18 Guardian 31
Luke Jacombs The glass manu of different species, in various modes of flight, tweet joyful bright colourful and optimistic notes. Tuis, fantails, wax eye, tomtits, swallows are among this delightful array. Cast in moulds using wax, the glass birds have a translucent glow of light and colour, bringing them alive with character. Jacombs birds have winged their way to the US and Europe and can be found in private and institutional collections. Jacombs himself has travelled to glass studios and kilns in the USA, Europe, and China for work and to explore glass art practice. Today, Luke runs Lukeke's glass casting studio in Te Atatu, Auckland (New Zealand) and his glass blowing ‘hot-shop’ in Avondale, Auckland, along with his talented team of glass artists - Matthew Hall, Scott Dunster, Kate Mitchell, Lauren Richards, and Mike McGregor. Glass Birds 32
Realism - Photographing Manu - Digital Painting The natural scientists of the colonial era wanted scientific accuracy in their sketch- es of birds. A bias towards scientific renderings has persisted for some artists and viewers. It is not uncommon to find within an audience a preference for readily identifiable or photographed birds, the ones that find their way into bird guide- books or science journals. By contrast, the abstract, conceptual, or stylised illustra- tions offer a different way of seeing that requires a different type of listening. Advancement in photographic technology and computer programs today, along with the deconstruction of colonial art conventions and beliefs as to the “proper way to do things”, grants today’s artists and particularly photographers and digital artists an unprecedented freedom in their work. They may draw from a vast range of convention and technique and from any art historical era so that yesteryear’s scientific drawings, painterly realism, or yesterday’s photo realism, or hyper realism are all optional considerations today. The ability to manipulate aphotograph or devise a 3D computer rendering is popular with contemporary artists exploring new and better ways in which to convey their messages. 33
Janet Marshall (1947 - ) Marshall paints in the tradition of the artist observing from nature. However, a visit to her website will reveal she is a prolific bird artist who is comfortable in a range of styles. A renowned stamp bird artist with fourteen bird stamps to her credit, she creates her careful illustrative renderings informed by an extensive study of birds and her everyday proximity to bird wildlife in her studio in Nelson. She is the consummate bird artist, with her birds appearing in a list of bird specialist guides, children’s books, greeting cards, and New Zealand currency. 19 Along with her stamps, Marshall has two paintings in this exhibition; Fantails with Coprosma (60 x50 cm, acrylic on mounted canvas); and Stitchbirds (60 x50cm acrylic on mounted canvas). In these works, Marshall’s rendering of a soft diffused light in the foreground of Fantails with Coprosma might be contrasted with the layers of light in the backdrop of Stitchbirds. When viewed together they combine into a unified depiction of an atmospheric stillness in an isolated New Zealand bush. Black Robin Kōkako 1985, Newt Zealand’s Endagered Birds’ 1985, New Zealand’s Endagered Birds’ Stamp Series Stamp Series 19 https://www.janetemarshall.co.nz/profile.html 34
Stitchbirds acrylic on mounted canvas, 600 x 500 Fantails with Coprosma acrylic on mounted canvas, 600 x 500 35
Judi Lapsley Miller Miller’s art is motivated in part by her advocacy for the wildlife and land of Aotearoa-New Zealand. She explores the uniqueness of our birds, the tenacity of life in the face of environmental destruction, and possible post-human worlds. Many of her artworks stem from her experiences volunteering in wildlife conserva- tion projects, especially with her beloved kākā at Zealandia Ecosanctuary. Howev- er, for this show, the kiwi is the star! Photography is just the first step in Miller’s creative process – she digitally blends and masks layers of photographs, graphics, scanned ephemera and textures, light- ing and colour adjustments, and digital brushstrokes to form an image that is more painting than photograph. The digital image is then realised in physical form as a Giclee print on archival fine art paper. For all her artworks featuring endangered birds, she donates a percentage of her proceeds to conservation organisations to help ensure their vital work can contin- ue. Thus, the art buyer is also participating in wildlife conservation. In this exhibi- tion, Judi is supporting Zealandia Ecosanctuary. Judi lives in wild and wonderful Wellington where she is a practicing member of the NZ Academy of Fine Arts. Her works are held in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Europe, Vietnam, and the USA. …we go for an evening stroll with one of our most precious manu. Kiwi rely more on their sense of smell than sight, so they snuffle and snort as they forage as if sharing the funniest joke. This is the sort of kiwi joker I want to spend time with! They’re fascinating birds with the most haunting call, and silvery feath- ers that shimmer in the moon- light. Male kiwi pukupuku pull their weight on the home front, too. They are the primary care- givers for their chicks. A Real Kiwi Joker Kiwi Pukupuku 36
Alexander Okhlopkov In Alexander’s digital print Unbroken Song there is a sense of foreboding in the darkened sky as a group of whiteheads face an impending storm. How do birds, with their delicate feathers and features when caught in a tempest, ever survive? The reality is that sometimes they do not, or they may end up far from home. For Alexander, the answer is suggested in the title. This “painting”, a metaphor of weathering the storm, also acts as a reminder of disturbing cyclonic weather patterns caused by global warming. Alexander’s whiteheads are rendered after the style of the 17th century European Old Master looking to realistically replicate the subject in the fine detail of the birds. Like an old Master, his impressive chiaroscuro creates mood. Unlike an Old Master, no pigments were mixed on a palette. Digital technology is manipulated to “paint” the composition, create depth through light and dark shading… and all without a single brush stroke. Unbroken Song 2021, digital print 37
Sean Hill In the most abstract work of the exhibition, Sean Hill uses digital painting to emphasise the interconnected elements of the natural environment the homes for our birds: earth-sea-sky. He drafts up on his laptop a carefully devised abstract composition with a design that includes a colour plan. The work is then sketched onto his chosen support. Here he has chosen re-used wooden pallets. He then applies paint. During lock- down in 2020, Sean experienced fresh inspiration in his lockdown environs in Taranaki and wanted to communicate this through his art. Inspired by nature - balancing shape with blocks of colour, a co-dependency within the elements of earth, sea, and sky- a necessary triptych for manu. Tui 2021, digital prepatory design for an acrylic painting on pallet board 38
Martin Lauder Narrative Bird photography is a hobby that has turned into a way of life for Lauder. It has seen him venturing into all sorts of precarious situations, always listening, always watchful, always chasing the birds and chasing the shot… for the sheer love of it! Lauder uses a quality Sony point and shoot with a 600 mm zoom rather than an SLR as it gives him flexibility to take the camera along in other activities and seize the opportunities as they arise. Such is his passion for this hobby that over the years he has accumulated a catalogue of over 70 local bird species. He comments that his wife has observed that their walks are now taking much longer. Heading Home 2013, Digital photograph 39
Heading Home, captures the gannet in flight with wings outstretched and almost in camouflage against the dangerous breaking white water below…but safely home- ward bound. The photograph I Spy is of a dotterel, tuturiwhatu, taken at Martin’s Bay, one hour north of Auckland. The viewer is invited to wonder - what does the bird spy? The colours of this small species, reflecting the colours of the beach, sand, seaweed, the shells, and pebbles, also indicates the age and sex of the bird. Once critically endangered, the North Island Species is still at risk, but recovering. It nests on the beach and near residential areas, making it vulnerable to predators. Nesting just above the high tide mark it can be lost to strong storms and very high spring tides. I Spy 2021, Digital photograph 40
Bell Bird Digital photograph 41
Simon Stuart Inspired by his father and starting out with a Box Brownie, Simon’s photographic interests started early with film cameras in the 1970s and has persisted for around fifty years. His photographic subject matter includes family photographs, fast moving sport including hockey, lacrosse, and aviation and birds since 2020. He is also a keen aviation enthusiast and is regularly found at air shows up and down New Zealand, photographing the thrilling displays put on by the Warbird and aerobatic pilots based in New Zealand. Simon has lived in New Zealand for some 11 years and has travelled New Zealand extensively, both North and South Islands, developing a love for New Zealand nature and wildlife photography. Concentrating on birds in 2020, he has a special interest in the kotare, the sacred kingfisher observed in the environs of Blockhouse Bay. Of Stuart’s range of bird - pictures, the images of his male tomtit perched on a branch, and that of fledgling swallows wing their way to this exhibition. Currently neither of these species are considered threatened but they capture, as only photography can, a realism of the natural world. There are many stories that come with Stuart’s bird images. They can serve as wildlife commentary. For example, in his photograph of fledging swallows, Stuart captures an endearing moment of the parent feeding the young. He found the swallow chicks habitually perched for food at the back of one of the Western Springs ponds. Whenever the parents approached with food both chicks would clamour to be fed. Although the chicks are perched, the parents never land while feeding them, but equally want a good “positive" transfer of the food to the chick toprevent wastage. By comparison, it is the photographer’s anecdotal story that Stuart recalls in the frame Tomtit in the Bush: “… three hours walking. no sightings or anything… then 100m from the car – Tomtit in the bush!” The photograph was taken at the Upper Nihotupu Dam track Auckland. 42
Swallows Feeding on the Wing 2021 Tomtit in the Bush 2021 43
Community in Conservation Tara iti - New Zealand Fairy Tern Image courtesy of Fairy Tern Charitable Trust The New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust is a private conservation group work- ing alongside the Department of Conservation for the eradication of predators and raising community awareness about the plight of this smallest of the terns. Heather Rogan, the Trust convenor, will be present during the exhibition to describe the work that the Trust undertakes. Team leader for Birds at Auckland Zoo, Carl Ashworth shares with us his first hand experience of incubating and rearing a fairy tern chick- Little Green; a beautiful story of caring for these birds where we observe the role of the Zoo in working alongside DOC in wildlife projects. 44
The Imaginatio Genus: A Somervell Collaboration Responding to the bird conservation call, the art team decided to use the Art Week Waiata Manu platform to raise awareness about endangered birds, and especially the fairy tern, of which only 40 - 45 birds remain. A Somervell artist collaboration created forty flax and paper mache birds for the exhibition of the genus Imaginatio. Painted by various artists, these birds are a part of the exhibition’s fund-raising project for the Fairy Tern Trust. Imaginatio Polka Kasia 2021 45
The whakatauki He kōtuku rerenga tahi or “Bird of a single flight” describes a white heron as one whose flight is only seen once. A sighting is considered of signifi- cance and has been associated with Kupe’s discovery of Aotearoa. In flight the Kōtuku tucks it head back to its shoulders hiding its long neck and having a hunched look. It is found in the Ōkārito Lagoon, Westland. Imaginatio Kōtuku Hannah 2021 After Kōtuku (White Heron) 46
Upland’s Kindergarten Upland’s Kindy teachers and children celebrate the joy of the creative process. In early childhood learning there is an emphasis on the value of the process rather than the result. But the mosaic and clay birds, and the ginormous paper mache kiwi created under the loving guidance of the teachers are delightful and under- score a hope that new generations will respect and revere the importance of manu and whenua. Kindergarten Kiwi 2021, mixed media - chicken wire, newspaper, wallpaper-paste, clay (work in progress) 47
A Waiata of Hope In this Waiata Manu chorus we observe that artists have special talents to convey their messages around birds bringing new appreciation, joy, delight, and a wonder of birds through creative expression. We hear elements of lament for lost species and lost habitats intertwined with warning and a call to action. The exhibition recognises that Tangata Whenua have valuable traditional knowl- edge and an understanding of manu and whenua that needs to be cherished. The bird artists and the ongoing mahi by Māori communities alongside environmental groups, scientists, and faith communities who deeply care about the wellbeing of the planet and the survival and welfare of our birds is cause for a waiata of hope. Imaginatio Hope 2021 48
Birds by Eleanor Black In New Zealand we have a special affinity for our native birds, which once flitted through the fores with no natural predators, millions of them aflutter with the busy work of finding food, building nests, and raising chicks. For Māori communities, birds were an essential source of food, provided feathers for cloaks, and were used as metaphor in stories. For example, when Māui went to kill the goddess of death, Hinenuitepo, he was accompanied by a piwakawaka. The bird’s cheep-cheep-cheep woke Hinenuitepo who crushed Māui and brought mortality to humankind. At a local school close to Somervell Presbyterian, the characteristics of successful learners arerepresented by native birds – the creative piwakawaka, the reflective ruru, resilient tui, responsible kotare, respectful kereru and collaborative pihipihi. The children come to understand their learning journey through birdlife, and to mark their progress against the industrious birds they see in the school’s own small patch of bush. The English language is full of words that owe something to birds and our fascina- tion with them – and indeed our admiration for them. A person who takes early action to get the job done, for example, is compared positively to the early bird who got the worm. When we gather in groups (especially when regathering after lockdown) we might be seen to caw, chatter and cheap with enthusiasm. Social beings, we parrot each other’s words, and when we are proven right in a disagreement we crow over others. We squawk with delight, as if we were cock of the walk. People share instant messages, or tweet, on the microblogging site Twitter, whose emblem is a blue bird in flight, intended (rather grandly) to embody “freedom, hope and limitless possibility.” Like chickens, poorly judged tweets come home to roost. 49
Someone who struts around as if they know it all may be called a popinjay, an old word for parrot which conjures ostentatious feathers and loud squawking. They might even be said to swan about, and in their focus on their own interests they will likely ruffle some feathers. When we are cutting it fine as we near the end of a project or the start of an appointment, we say we are getting by on a wing and a prayer – that we are taking life on the fly, or even that we are fly-by-night. When you want to help a vulnerable person, you might take them under your wing. When you are organising a project, you are said to be getting your ducks in a row, like a mother duck proudly leading her chicks across the grass. Something rare and highly covetable is said to be as rare as hen’s teeth. A worri- some burden is an albatross (or toroa) round the neck. A person who misses noth- ing is said to have an eagle eye and someone who takes on a new task with ease is said to be a duck to water. Bright, pure bursts of joy are described in bird terms too – you might be happy as a lark or crazy as a loon in love. As we encounter the diverse bird art of Waiata Manu, may we soar to new places and be filled with aroha, for our bird friends and each other. 50
List of Artists and Works Binney, D.H. Fat Bird, (1964) oil on hardboard, 753 x 603, private collection. Kaiarara Kaka, Great Barrier, Screen-print 28/150 (1982) 585 x 835,private collection. Independent State of Aramoana 40 cent stamp; (private collection) Cinderella issue based on; Puketōtara Twice Shy (1977) oil on canvas 1807 x 1353, Museum of Te Papa Don Binney La Chute d'lcare, Pureora (Fall of Icarus): Last Flight of the Kokako (1979) off set print courtesy of Fish Mob Available for purchase – proceeds to Fairy Tern Trust (price indication $550) Brown, N. Kākāpō, (2015) Acrylic on linen 833 x634 x 50mm (private collection) Tui for Wholeness, (2016) acrylic on canvas 900 x 700mm, available for purchase contact agent Libby Storey at: Artis Gallery Parnell libby.storey@artisgallery.co.nz (price indication $10,500) All Life, (2018)acrylic on canvas. Acrylic on Canvas95x240 , 2018 ($5,500) available for purchase contact agent Libby Storey at: Artis Gallery Parnell libby.storey@artisgallery.co.nz Devoy, B. Huia, black Takaka, (2021) stone on concrete mould plinth, private collection Rere (Take Flight) tui- Raglan Basalt, Base- blackwood, kowhai – marble, trunk-alpine stone, 700 x 330 x 250, available for purchase, contact sculptor Hill, S. Greeeen, acrylic on pallet board (2020) private collection, Auckland Ocean Glide, acrylic on pallet board (2020), private collection, Auckland Blhue, acrylic on pallet board (2020) private collection, Auckland Tui, acrylic on pallet Board (2021) artists own work in progress Taranaki Available for purchase (Tui) contact artist: sean_Hill@windowslive.com Jacombs, L. Glass Birds - Lukeke studio- a variety of twelve species and colours, glass artists own, Available for purchase (from $325 each) contact: lukekedesign@gmail.com Lapsley Miller, J. A real kiwi joker (kiwi pukupuku) Edition 2/5 Digital photo-art Archival Giclee fine-art print on Breathing Colour Elegance Velvet fine-art paper. Hand-signed and editioned. Framed in a chunky rustic frame with UltraVue 70% antireflective and UV resistant glass. Includes a 10% donation to Zealandia. Available for purchase $825 contact: judi@artbyjlm.com 52
Lauder, M. Whassup, 2021 Gull, black and white photographic prints. Heading Home, 2013 I Spy, 2021 Available for purchase - contact: martin.lauder@gmail.com Marshall, J. Fantails with Coprosma, original acrylic on mounted canvas, 60 x50 cm, artists own collection Stitchbirds, original acrylic on mounted canvas, 60 x50, artists own collection, Available for purchase - contact artist ph. 0275286049 Email- janet@janetemarshall.co.nz (price indication $4000) Meuli, T. Wakahuia, sculpture, totara -waka/canoe Tākaka marble- lid, greenstone -handles silky oak- base (2021) artist’s own collection Available for purchase contact artist- 021847699, 02102272606 , Email taimeuli@gmail.com ( price indication $13,000) Minson, S. The Heart of Kaka (2020) off set print, private collection, Available for purchase, See Website or contact agent Nigel@sofiaminson.com Okhlopkov, A. Unbroken Song, digital print (2021), artists own Available for purchase- contact artist Email ohlopuch@gmail.com (Price indication $2000) Smith, A. Tumanako, Karakia (limited edition screen prints donated by the artist to the exhibition for funds for the Fairy Tern Trust) Available for purchase, contact Cathy Hall fundraising coordinator. (price indication $350 each) Stuart, S. Swallow feeding on the wing, photograph, 2021, Tomtit in the bush, photograph, 2021 Available for purchase, contact photographer simon.stuart@levitate.net.nz Yang, M. The Lover’s Eye, mixed media, (2021) Available for purchase- contact artist ministigrai@gmail.com 53
Somervell and Artists Collaboration – Genus Imaginatio, 40 flax and papier mache birds; fundraiser for the Fairy Tern Trust. Individually priced. Contact Cathy Hall cathyhall@xtra.co.nz or phone 02102633249 Uplands Kindergarten Collaboration Kindergarten Kiwi, Bird mosaics Clay Birds Papier maché 54
Bibliography Ackerman, J. The Genius of Birds, 2016, Penguin Press, USA. Binney, D. 2010, Drawing the Waitakere Coast, A Godwit Book 2010, Auckland New Zealand. Campbell Patterson Ltd, Catalogue of New Zealand Stamps, 1855- present day, Auckland New Zealand. Donald, P. Collar, NJ. Marsden, SJ. Pain, DJ. 2013, Facing Extinction, Bloomsbury Publishing, London. Elliott, M. 2019, The Kiwi- endangered New Zealand Icon, Imagination Press, Auckland New Zealand. Ferens, C.G. 2012, The Country Diary of a New Zealand Lady, Faith House Publications, New Zealand. Forde, M. 1989, Another Way of Looking- New Zealand’s Birds on Stamps, David Bateman Publisher. Gordon, E. 1987, New Zealand’s story In Stamps, Waitarua Publishing, New Zealand. Klaus, Malling, Olsen, Gulls of the World, 2018, Bloomsbury Publishing, London New York. Macdonald, H. 2014, H is for Hawke, Jonathan Cape, Random House, London. Moon, G. Birds of New Zealand A Photographic Guide, 2002, New Holland Publishers (NZ) ltd, New Zealand. Norman, G. 2012, reprinted 2020, Bullers Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Wok of KG Keulemans, Te Papa, Wellington Parker, K. Kōwhai and the Giants, 2020, Little Love Mary Egan Publishing, New Zealand. Ruka, J. Huia Come Home, 2018, Oati, New Zealand Skinner, D. 2003, Don Binney Ngā Manu/Ngā Motu, Auckland University Press, Auckland New Zealand. Turbot, E.G. Buller’s Birds of New Zealand 1888, edited 1967, Whitcombe and Tombs, NewZealand. Whickes, C. and Fimmell, S. Creative Conservation, 2020, New Holland Publishers, New Zealand. Wolfe, R. 2010, It’s in the Post Stories behind New Zealand Stamps, Craig Potter Publishing, New Zealand. References and articles online Gentleman, D. The Design and Production of Postage Stamps: A paper by David Gentleman, Jstor .org www.doc.govt.nz www.teara.govt.nz www. nzbirdsonline www.newzealandartwork.com/shop/product/280973/the-heart-of-the-kaka/ http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/australasian-bitternhttps: Megan Cook, 'Pulp and paper, aluminium and steel industries - Aluminium', Te Ara - the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/21187/independentaramoana-stamps (accessed 27 July 2021) http://www.nzsgb.org.uk/research/hancox/1959%20Health%20Plating.pdf http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7psJqrI-PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBwzXzTd34 https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/huia-the-sacred-bird https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/rockart/awareness.htm https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/stories/science/saving-aucklands-spotted-shag https://www.nigelbrown.co.nz/about/writing/don-binney/ https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mysterious-history-lovers-eye-jewelry Exhibition Nigel Brown Bird in the Hand 2017 Artists notes https://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz/queenstown/exhibitions/10370-Nigel-Brown-Bird-in-the-Hand 55
Acknowledgements The Chorus of Artists painters, sculptors, glass artists, photographers, digital artists, print makers and community collaborations The Art Owners who have made their art available for the exhibition Philatelists Glyn Partridge, John Kelsey, Derek Lamb, and the North Shore Philatelic Society Co-Curators Dorothy Laing and Alexander Okhlopkov Event Co-Ordinator Martin Lauder Funding and Fundraising projects Cathy Hall and her team Project General Guidance Reverend Ivan Martinez Pastoral Care and Volunteer Organiser Wan Hyuk Editor Script and Catalogue Kathryn Lehman Catalogue Media Editor Jeramy Bhanabhai and Jasper Lai Catalogue Contribution Birds Eleanor Black Exhibition and Video Music Minrui Yang Sound Files Yang birdsong and ambient music, Celes Ngati Whatua Orākei Karanga, Elgar Enigmas (Nimrod), John Hanlon Damn the dam, The Byrds Turn Turn Turn, Skylar Nola I Wish You Tuis, Waiata The Lord’s Prayer soundtrack Daniel and Ashley, Waiata Hutia Melbourne, Auld Lang Syne arrangement Presenter Kiwi and kiwi: Our relationship with our New Zealand’s most iconic species Matt Elliott Auckland Zoo Bird Team leader Carl Ashworth Fairy Tern Trust Convenor Heather Rogan. Photographs of predators by permission of the Fairy Tern Charitable Trust Collaborative Communities Uplands Kindergarten Jenn Busch and Maggie Ling Imaginatio various artists- Installation Hal Brown Video Narrator Alison Ballance Whakataukī Narrator- Tom Ihaka Video Compilation Gilbert Rae and Luna Productions New Zealand Post Collectibles Lynette Townsend and team, permission for image use. Image use license/permission The Don Binney Estate, New Zealand Artwork Nigel Fowler for Sofia Minson, New Zealand Artwork, Libby Storey Artis Gallery Parnell for Nigel Brown Music Recordings permission John Hanlon permission to use Damn the Dam in the virtual or live exhibition Daniel and Ashley permission to use recording Waiata The Lord’s Prayer The National Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa Media and Print, stamp images and stamp artists working drawings, High resolution image Puketotara Twice Shy 1976, Auckland, by Don Binney. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1977-0024-1) Donation of Prints Fish Mob donation offset Print Binney Last Flight of the Kōkako, Amber Smith limited edition prints Tumanako and Karakia Opening Night Music Director Chris Adams. Auckland Grammar School ‘s Virtuosi (regrettably the live performance planned for the opening was cancelled on account of the Auckland Lockdown during the Covid 19 Pandemic) 56
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