Pic: Police Commissioner, Peter Marshall & Mervin Singahm, Director, OEA
The role of water, earth and fire are elements picked out as features shared across ethnic boundaries during the experience of death and highlighted at a new exhibition at the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.
The Office of Ethnic Affairs played an important role in initiating and supporting the Death and Diversity exhibition, which has just opened to the public.
At the opening ceremony last night (Monday 5 December) the Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, Mervin Singham said he hopes the exhibition will generate dialogue in the community.
“By sharing the most intimate of our rituals - the rituals of death and mourning - we open ourselves up to authentic engagement with each other.”
“While there’s a common bond of experiencing and coping with death, every culture has customs and rituals that guide how to deal with it. They are as varied, as vibrant, and have as diverse a range of emotions as any other expression of culture. By learning about these practices we share the most intimate insight possible into a person’s culture and beliefs.”
The six elements of water, earth, fire, food, colour and word are all represented. Each carries a description of its use and is accompanied by personal experiences from the Wellington Assyrian, Chinese, Colombian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Mexican communities.
This is the first time that ethnic communities open up their private world to share their intimate and emotional journeys of life and death with mainstream New Zealanders.
By getting to know the diverse practices surrounding death the exhibition provides an opportunity to gain a sense of identity and belonging of various ethnic community groups and the changes they’ve made since their arrival in New Zealand.
The exhibition is expected to attract more than 10,000 visitors during its four month opening period between 6 December to 26 June 2012.
The project is also sponsored by the New Zealand Police, partnered with Voice Arts Trust and the New Zealand Film Archive, and supported by the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand.
For more information contact:
Sue Ingram
Senior Communications Advisor
Office of Ethnic Affairs
The Department of Internal Affairs, Te Tari Taiwhenua
Direct Dial: 04 494 0584 / Mobile: 027 541 4696
Or,
Chris Hamilton
Marketing Coordinator - Publicity
Tel: 04 471 0514
Museums Wellington
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