Animals in our imagination
A DigitalNZ Story by Sarah Jane Barnett
“Trees, birds, other animals, grasses, rivers … experience but cannot imagine us. We imagine but too often do not really experience them.” - Joan Retallack, poet I often think about the ways poets write about the nonhuman world. I don't think that the visual arts are that different: how we imagine animals often tells us more about ourselves – our culture and fears and desires – than the animals themselves. Some of these images are playful; others are sad and absurd. My favourite ones are about the connection we feel between ourselves and other animals.
animals, imagination, whale, bear, moose, puffer fish, penguin, snake, tiger
Brown- throated Three- toed Sloth, Bradypus variegatus
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Solid Snake
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Tiger toy
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Advertisement for Tiger Teas
Alexander Turnbull Library
Model penguin in the crow's nest of the ship Endeavour
Alexander Turnbull Library
Puffer fish kite assisted by children on Otaki Beach
Kete Horowhenua
[Miss?] Imlay with dog
Alexander Turnbull Library
Bird head Club
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Mounted birds, temporary storage
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Lion beer advertisement
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Hodgkins, Isabel Jane, 1867-1950 :[Dead mouse. 1880]
Alexander Turnbull Library
'Our dog Jack', second prize comic study
Auckland Libraries
Vegetable animal
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Animal competitions
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Protecting birds and animals
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage