Te Pihi Mata - The Sacred Eye: Partington's Photographs of Whanganui

An exhibition that revolves around a collection of photographs that has been in the news since it was discovered in an old suitcase in 2001.

Whanganui Mäori protested when the collection of photographs went to auction and the sale was stopped. It made headlines around the world. The photographs were purchased for the Museum using funds from a number of local community and iwi organisations. And now an exhibition has been developed which is a unique collaboration with Whanganui iwi.

The exhibition title is a play on words with te pihi mata meaning the startled lift of the eyebrows that happens with something like the flash of a camera; it can also mean the wink of the eye, likened to the flash of a shutter. Matapihi is a window and this exhibition provides a window to a past seen through the lens of Partington’s camera.

Visitors will be invited into a wharepuni, a meeting house, where Partington’s haunting photographs are the windows into the lives of people who lived along the Whanganui River one hundred years ago. Manuhiri, visitors, will encounter stories that are usually only told in an intimate family context: stories of leadership, tattooing, weaving, song and dance, women, love and war.

Te Pihi Mata runs until 18 September 2009.