Nyree Sherlock, Research Assistant – Whangārei Museum
If you harbour a love for the sea and a fascination for all the creatures within its tides, then Kiwi North’s fresh exhibition Life And Tides is bound to heighten your curiosity and challenge your preconceptions. This bold contemporary exhibition focusses on marine life, while also presenting an intriguing local history connection, to create a truly immersive and powerfully resonating experience for all ages. Upon entering the Life And Tides exhibition gallery, expect to see and learn the unexpected, with marine species on display, along with tactile custom-made elements that have never been experienced in a museum setting before.
Celebrating the sea creatures of Aotearoa as a Seaweek event just so happens to be the Kiwi North Museum curator’s favourite topic. The exhibition is not only a visually mesmerising experience, but a space to gain the type of in-depth knowledge only found in people who have had experience with marine creatures for many years, such as Life And Tides curator Alyce Charlesworth. Alyce grew up in Whangārei and, from the time she was a toddler, spent most of her formative days soaking up knowledge at the Museum of Fishes, which her grandfather George Campbell owned and operated in the Whangārei Town Basin.
Following in the footsteps of her grandfather and her father, Alyce is the third generation of her family to practise the art of taxidermy to enhance the way she shares her knowledge of the marine world, and this is where the strong historical link to Life And Tides begins: Many locals will still fondly remember the Museum of Fishes- an iconic natural history-hub that intrigued and educated locals, and visitors alike, throughout the 1990s. In fact, George’s extensive collection at the Museum of Fishes, which included both living fish and taxidermy creatures, gave visitors a unique glimpse beneath the waves. His two main aims were to promote education and conservation by preserving fish for the future generations to observe and appreciate, which earned him a conservation award during a time when the word conservation didn’t hold the weight it has today. He took moulds (taxidermy) of the rare fish that were found washed up on our shores, along with many other specimens brought to him over the years, not for financial gain, but to show children of the future how special these creatures are, and to prompt learning about how integral they are within the marine ecosystem.
The Museum of Fishes closed in 2001, and, after giving first option to local buyers, the entire collection, made up of hundreds of fish, was sold to a trust in Nelson. Kiwi North reached out to enquire about the collection that had left our Northern shores so many years ago but found out the project had never got off the ground. Sadly, the collection has been in the same container since it left Whangarei 23 years ago.
Generations of Northlanders may have missed the experience of The Museum of Fishes, but Kiwi North’s Life And Tides exhibition presents a tantalising glimpse of the original. Although taxidermy might now seem counterintuitive to what we consider to be conservation practice, it is, nonetheless, an ancient artform, deserving recognition for its origins and its ongoing evolution. The word taxidermy comes from the Greek ‘taxis’ (arrangement) and ‘’derma’ (skin). Although we often associate it with the stylized displays of deceased animals, which proliferated in the Victorian era (1837-1901), taxidermy began in ancient Egypt (2200 BC) as a spiritual practise: Egyptians believed preserving their deceased Pharaohs and nobility (along with their animals) ensured afterlife.
Nowadays, taxidermy has a growing history in many museums worldwide for drawing attention to important animal-related issues. In this way, Life And Tides reframes the practice of taxidermy, by placing existing objects from The Museum of Fishes, along with supporting objects from the Whangārei Museum collection, into a contemporary landscape. When we look at these preserved fish, we do not gaze at them as trophies, but we view them as advocates for their species – beautiful, complex, and interconnected creatures, with their own uniqueness, existing within a delicate balance, and perhaps allowing us to realise our potential of becoming kaitiaki by embracing a deeper knowledge and understanding of each species.
In the words of David Attenborough, “No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
Have you ever felt the skin surface of a sunfish?
Life and Tides exhibition will be open at Kiwi North from Saturday 9th of March until Sunday 12th of May.
