Rena victims make impression

Creative artwork has been made from the bodies of oiled birds that died when 350 tonnes of oil spilled from Rena.

About two thousand dead birds were found covered in thick oil after the cargo ship hit Astrolabe reef on October 5, 2011.

Hundreds more spent time at the wildlife recovery centre in Te Maunga where they were nursed back to health.

To commemorate the deaths, a collection of prints have been made from the bodies of an oiled little blue penguin and a diving petrel.

The two birds were found dead and oiled on Matakana Island by Greenpeace volunteers when they helped the local iwi, Nga Hapu o te Moutere o Matakana, clean oil off their beaches.

Greenpeace volunteers and art collective Publicis Mojo came up with the concept of making oil prints with the birds, using some of the actual oil from the Rena.

Greenpeace spokesman Steve Abel said the exhibition would not visit Tauranga as it was an opportunity to create awareness of the disaster around the country.

Tauranga Art Gallery director Penelope Jackson agreed. She said it was important for other regions to realise the effects of the Rena disaster were still being felt in the Bay of Plenty.

"It is a very topical talking point and we've got our own ways of exploring this content so it's good that this is being taken to the wider country because here in the Bay it's not over yet."

One of the current displays at the gallery was Whakarongo, titled Kamate which meant "to kill". Mrs Jackson said the piece of work was on the floor and it looked like "big globules of oil on the beach".

Mr Abel said the two birds were returned to Nga Hapu o te Moutere o Matakana once the prints had been made. A canvas print was also donated to the iwi.

The prints of the dead birds will be displayed in Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin this month. They were exhibited in Auckland prior to Christmas.