Fiona Pardington is a Māori and Scottish photographer from Aotearoa New Zealand whose practice examines memory, cultural representation, natural history and the emotional power of objects. Working with analogue and digital photography, she is known for carefully staged portraits of museum specimens, taonga, still-life arrangements and human traces. Her images often bring overlooked or historically classified subjects into an intimate visual space, questioning how institutions preserve, name and interpret living cultures and the natural world.
In 2026, Pardington represents Aotearoa New Zealand at the 61st Venice Biennale with Taharaki Skyside. The exhibition presents seventeen large-scale portraits of native birds held in museum collections, including endangered and extinct species. Grounded in mātauranga Māori, the project approaches these manu as ancestors and carriers of memory rather than as scientific specimens alone. Their monumental scale connects ecological loss with histories of collecting, classification and colonial power. Pardington’s current work continues a career spanning more than three decades, combining technical precision with a sustained interest in what photographs can reveal, conceal or restore. Through these images, she creates encounters that are visually compelling while remaining attentive to whakapapa, environmental responsibility and the continuing presence of Indigenous knowledge.