Going Places - Te Papa

I've been visit a few places lately and haven't really shared my experiences so I'm vowing to start now. This was actually a valentines day trip since Andre (my boyfriend's) arm is still in a cast I dragged him along, he's got nothing better to do anyway! Te Papa is the name of my local museum, it means 'our place' in Maori. It's a really great educational museum with all sorts of great stuff, mainly for kids but adults will get something out of it too, especially the art displays. 

I don't usually like seeing dead birds, but I wanted to see the birds that Te Papa had on display, some of them I've never seen alive or in the wild. The trip turned out to be really inspirational, as well as helpful for getting new ideas for illustrations, and art in general - there's something so sombre about seeing a bird 'labelled' as a specimen, a bird that used to be alive and breathing. The initial joy at seeing and recognising a bird quickly disappears when evidence of it's mortality are noticed. A wire from which the bird hangs, a piece of metal helping it stand upright are somewhat disguised but still obvious, and makes one wonder about it's life before being propped up and displayed for all to see. I wanted to share some photos from the trip - please excuse the general blurriness, light reflections and shadow.