The story of the bird
The Maori call it the hoiho, the noise-shouter, and it is one of the rarest penguins on earth. It belongs to New Zealand, to the cool forests and scrub-covered headlands of the South Island and the islands below it, and unlike almost every other penguin it does not crowd. It nests alone, out of sight of its neighbours, under a fern or against a bank, a solitary bird in a family famous for its colonies.
The field mark is in the name. A pale lemon-yellow iris, unsettling and bright, set in a head crossed by a band of yellow feathers that runs from the eyes around the back of the crown. No other penguin carries yellow quite like this, drawn into the face rather than worn as a plume. The effect is less regal than the King, more watchful, a bird that looks as though it is listening.
On the page it is the quietest penguin in the set and, for many, the most haunting. The palette is soft, the yellow muted into the slate of the head, the whole bird rendered with the patient attention the collection gives a forest warbler. An endangered bird, drawn honestly, holding its corner of the cream ground with the stillness of something that has learned to keep to itself.
Paper and finish
Available in three sizes on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm, an archival cotton rag with a soft matte surface. Printed by Prodigi with pigment inks rated 100+ years under display conditions. Framed prints are glazed, no mat, in black, white or natural.
