Alexander Turnbull Library celebrates 100 years of treasures

John Pule Entanglements 1997

Fiona Oliver

Melanie Tangarere Baldwin and her daughter Çio

Melanie Tangarere Baldwin 'George Grey' 2016 life sized airdry clay paper aliminuim foil acrylic paint

Lisa Reihana M-üori Chief (In Search of Venus) 2016

'Only Words' 2019 914mm x 1371mm backlit print in powder coated steel 12V 4000k LED lightbox

Seraphine Pick Wandering Rose 2008

Sarah Munro Trade Item ÔÇô Manu Introduced Predators Anton Seuffert (E-451-f) 2020

The Alexander Turnbull Library's 100th birthday celebrations may have been scuttled by Covid-19, but the treasure trove of New Zealand archives still gets to mark this milestone.

An exhibition of artists' work that speaks to taonga in the library's archives is about to open at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery.

Everything old is New Again: The Turnball Library at 100 matches artists with items from the archives, and it's co-curated by Fiona Oliver.

Gisborne-based Melanie Tangarere Baldwin is one of the artists who signed up for the show.  She created three pieces, each featuring a controversial figure in our history.  One of them is a reproduced Mokomokai or mummified head of the former New Zealand Governor George Gray.

Lynn Freeman talks with Melanie on the line from Gisborne and Fiona Oliver in our Wellington studio. 

Everything old is New Again:The Turnball Library at 100 opens on September 17 at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington.