White2023
8:28 min
Animation
The starting point for Dean’s animation is a 1930s British postcard of Taranaki Dairy Farm, New Zealand. In the shadow of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont, black and white cows graze in lush fields. Today, Taranaki is a centre for dairy science, the legacy of dairy farming brought to this area by British colonial settlers in the early 19th century. The animation leads us into a speculative forest, depicting indigenous plants and trees destroyed by the clearing of land for the introduction of intensive European dairying practices. ‘White’ examines how indigenous and local knowledge crucial to the healthy maintenance of the land was disregarded and lost.
Consultation/expertise: Ngāruahine Iwi, one of eight Iwi (Māori tribes) in the Taranki region
Animation: Marjolaine Lebrasseur
Hand-drawn bird animation: Justin Weber
Soundscape and composition: Taul Katz, Interlude Sounds
Included in exhibition:
Milk, Wellcome Collection
Installation view, White, Wellcome Collection
Installation view, White, Wellcome Collection
Installation view, White, Wellcome Collection
Installation view, White, Wellcome Collection
Typhoo Tea, 1938-39, collectible card depicting dairy farming on the plains surrounding Mount Taranaki in New Zealand
Installation view, Wellcome Collection