STARKWHITE

Fiona Pardington’s solo exhibition ‘Greatest Misses’ continues this week at Starkwhite. A concise survey of the key bodies of work that have shaped her singular photographic practice over the past three decades, coinciding with the major milestone of Pardington’s presentation of Taharaki Skyside as Aotearoa New Zealand’s official representative exhibition at the 2026 Venice Biennale. This exhibition is open until 6 June 2026. Image Credits: Fiona Pardington, Greatest Misses, 2026 Installation view, Starkwhite, Auckland #fionapardington #starkwhite @fionapardington @hinakehe

A first walkthrough of Taharaki Skyside at @labiennale , featuring 17 large-scale portraits of taxidermied manu from Aotearoa and Australia. Puamiria Parata-Goodall (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Ngāti Kahungunu), Arts Council member and Venice Kaihautū, says Ngāi Tahu acknowledges with pride Fiona’s presence at the Venice Biennale. “Her work elevates our manu as taonga, treasured reminders of our past, present and future. These are not simply images; they are acts of remembrance and recognition, calling attention to what has been lost, what endures, and our shared responsibility to the natural world and each other.” Video credit: @timstonerrock #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

Now open at Starkwhite, Fiona Pardington’s Greatest Misses is a concise survey of the key bodies of work that have shaped her singular photographic practice over the past three decades, coinciding with the major milestone of Pardington’s presentation of Taharaki Skyside as Aotearoa New Zealand’s official representative exhibition at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Long recognised for her ability to reawaken the stories and mauri of museum-held taonga, specimens, and historical artefacts, Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Clan Cameron of Erracht) continues to work at the intersection of history, memory, museology, environmental humanities, and affective cultural repair. Core to Pardington’s practice is the desire to restore human, natural and spiritual equilibrium, and create serious engagement with cultural and environmental concerns by cloaking them in a seductively beautiful aesthetic sensibility. Her use of lighting is pure dramaturgy. She uses deep chiaroscuro to draw her subjects out of darkness as if they are surfacing from another world, luminous with the aura of mana. Works range from photographs of phrenological busts made of Pacific peoples from D’Urville’s third Pacific voyage (1837-1840) from Pardington’s The Pressure of Sunlight Falling series (2011), to the familiar still life images, highly magnified pictures of butterfly scales from Nabokov’s Blues: The Charmed Circle (2017),and the delicate portraits of taxidermic bird specimens from museum collections taken in 2024. This exhibition is open until 6 June 2026. Image Credits: Fiona Pardington, Greatest Misses, 2026 Installation view, Starkwhite, Auckland #fionapardington #starkwhite @fionapardington @hinakehe

A quick tour around Venice and the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion, and footage from the Ngāi Tahu blessing of Taharaki Skyside, celebrating the opening week of the 61st Venice Biennale. Video credit: @timstonerrock #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

Wednesday saw the official opening of Taharaki Skyside. Fiona Pardington’s portraits of Aotearoa New Zealand’s manu: extinct, endangered, remembered. On view at La Pietà, Venice, until 22 November 2026. #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice Photography by @wahacreative

The final of three install shots of Taharaki Skyside. “Fiona’s photographs are more than images: they are acts of return. Each bird, each shimmer of feather and darkened horizon, carries presence and absence in equal measure – the breath of life, and the hush that follows it. Her work holds the paradox of beauty and loss with grace and precision, summoning both ancestral memory and contemporary urgency. To stand before these photographs is to feel the gaze of Aotearoa returned, patient and knowing.” Kent Gardner, Commissioner, Aotearoa New Zealand at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2026 Chair, Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice Taharaki Skyside centre panel, photography by Neil Pardington

Karakia were offered as Fiona and Neil’s whānau and iwi, Ngāi Tahu, blessed Taharaki Skyside ahead of its opening at La Pietà, Venice. A moment of grounding before the manu took their place on the world stage. Photography by @wahacreative #FionaPardington #AotearoaNewZealandatVenice #NZatVenice

Fiona Pardington’s Taharaki Skyside, presented at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, opens today with the Vernissage. Presented with the New Zealand Arts Council Toi Aotearoa and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion will feature Pardington’s major new series which builds on her 2024 work ‘Te taha o te rangi’, ‘the edge of the heavens’, photographs of Aotearoa birds preserved as taxidermy specimens in museum collections. Continuing her long standing exploration of memory, environment, and belonging, and grounded in the histories and ecologies of Aotearoa. This presentation resonates on an international stage, and links Aotearoa and Venice through the metaphor of a shared horizon - two perspectives meeting across a vast distance. Pardington’s work can be found at the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, a close walk to the Giardini della Bienalle and Arsenal exhibition halls. The 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia 2026), featuring artist Fiona Pardington in the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion, runs from Saturday, 9 May 2026, to Sunday, 22 November 2026. For further information about the exhibition, please contact Starkwhite at [email protected] — Visiting the Exhibition Pietà Venezia, Castello 3701, Venezia Vernissage: 6 – 8 May, 10:00 – 19:00 
 9 May – 22 November, 11:00 – 19:00 Closed Mondays —
 Image Credits: Fiona Pardington Taharaki Skyside, 2026 Installation view, 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia Image credit: Neil Pardington #starkwhite #fionapardington #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia @fionapardington @hinakehe @nzatvenice

Today is the final day of Aotearoa Art Fair and for the 2026 edition, STARKWHITE brings together artists from New Zealand and abroad in an exploration of abstraction, materiality, and perception. A large central platform supports a constellation of sculptural objects, alongside a suite of repeated pictorial works forming a skyline. Together, these elements create a space that is both disorienting and contemplative. Featuring works by Billy Apple®, Mikala Dwyer, Jonny Niesche, Seung Yul Oh, Fiona Pardington, Anselm Reyle, and Mark Whalen, the presentation brings together diverse practices connected through shared concerns. Collectively, these works reflect key sensibilities of the gallery, offering an interplay of aesthetic, conceptual, and material approaches. We are also pleased to present works by Among Equals, a not-for-profit organisation that brings together art, community, fashion, and the practice of bilum weaving. Each bag is handwoven, with designs that reflect the maker’s cultural knowledge, storytelling, and craft traditions. All proceeds from the sale of Among Equals works are returned directly to the Papua New Guinea–based artists. Further information can be found at .au — General Entry
 Sunday 3 May, 11am – 5pm Image credits : STARKWHITE Booth 01 Aotearoa Art Fair 2026, Installation view #starkwhite #aaf26 #jonnyniesche @jonnyhonky @fionapardington @mikaladwyer @seungyul @mark__whalen @anselm_reyle @amongequals @aotearoaartfair

Aotearoa Art Fair opens today and for the 2026 edition, STARKWHITE brings together artists from New Zealand and abroad in an exploration of abstraction, materiality, and perception. A large central platform supports a constellation of sculptural objects, alongside a suite of repeated pictorial works forming a skyline. Together, these elements create a space that is both disorienting and contemplative. Featuring works by Billy Apple®, Mikala Dwyer, Jonny Niesche, Seung Yul Oh, Fiona Pardington, Anselm Reyle, and Mark Whalen, the presentation brings together diverse practices connected through shared concerns. Collectively, these works reflect key sensibilities of the gallery, offering an interplay of aesthetic, conceptual, and material approaches. We are also pleased to present works by Among Equals, a not-for-profit organisation that brings together art, community, fashion, and the practice of bilum weaving. Each bag is handwoven, with designs that reflect the maker’s cultural knowledge, storytelling, and craft traditions. All proceeds from the sale of Among Equals works are returned directly to the Papua New Guinea–based artists. Further information can be found at .au — VIP Preview (VIP Pass and Premium+ Pass)
Thursday 30 April, 1pm – 5pm Opening Night
Thursday 30 April, 5pm – 9pm General Entry
Friday 1 May, 11am – 6pm
Saturday 2 May, 11am – 6pm
Sunday 3 May, 11am – 5pm Image credits : STARKWHITE Booth 01 Aotearoa Art Fair 2026, Installation view #starkwhite #aaf26 #jonnyniesche @jonnyhonky @fionapardington @mikaladwyer @seungyul @mark__whalen @anselm_reyle @amongequals @aotearoaartfair

To coincide with the Aotearoa Art Fair, Starkwhite is delighted to announce the release of Jonny Niesche’s most recent edition, Autumn Spice. Niesche brings his renowned aesthetic to the unique materiality of copper in this captivating print, redolent of autumnal hues. Exploring themes of beauty, lust, and desire, the surface is highlighted and framed by the undertones of polished copper, the reflective qualities of which run throughout the artist’s practice. “Since childhood, the dense allure of copper has always seemed to harbour a sense of magic for me.” The work will be released at 12pm NZT on Thursday, 30 April. Please contact the gallery for further information or to register your interest. Image credits:
Jonny Niesche, Autumn Spice, 2026
Edition of 100 + 6 AP
Direct UV print on polished copper, 65.4w × 48h cm #starkwhite #jonnyniesche #aaf26 @jonnyhonky

STARKWHITE’s presentation for the 2026 Aotearoa Art Fair brings together artists from New Zealand and abroad in an exploration of abstraction, materiality, and perception. A large central platform supports a constellation of sculptural objects, alongside a suite of repeated pictorial works forming a skyline. Together, these elements create a space that is both disorienting and contemplative. Featuring works by Billy Apple®, Mikala Dwyer, Jonny Niesche, Seung Yul Oh, Fiona Pardington, Anselm Reyle, and Mark Whalen, the presentation brings together diverse practices connected through shared concerns. Collectively, these works reflect key sensibilities of the gallery, offering an interplay of aesthetic, conceptual, and material approaches. We are also pleased to present works by Among Equals, a not-for-profit organisation that brings together art, community, fashion, and the practice of bilum weaving. Each bag is handwoven, with designs that reflect the maker’s cultural knowledge, storytelling, and craft traditions. All proceeds from the sale of Among Equals works are returned directly to the Papua New Guinea–based artists. Further information can be found at .au Image credits: Fiona Pardington, Fugitive Being (small), 2020 40cm, Bronze, 24 carat gold plating and burnt Japanese wooden base Mikala Dwyer, Empty Sculpture (colour), 2025 Acrylic and plastic, 66h x 42w x 33d cm Anselm Reyle, Gore Motel, 2024
Glazed ceramic, neon tube, 75h x 40w cm Mark Whalen, Blue Skys, 2026 Painted aluminium bronze, glass, pink onyx, and Bullseye glass, 168h x 24w x 15d cm Among Equals, Lina Mountain Bilum Tote, Bag Number BIL6541, 38cm W x x 30cm L x 76cm #starkwhite #mikaladwyer #fionapardington #markwhalen #amongequals @fionapardington @mark__whalen @anselm_reyle @mikaladwyer @amongequals