Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Explore queer objects, artworks, and stories in Te Papa’s collections and discover more about the rich histories of Aotearoa New Zealand’s LGBTQI+ communities and icons – including the AIDS Quilt, Carmen Rupe, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
This is an ongoing online project. If you have any suggestions for stories or topics that you would like see, please email enquiries@tepapa.govt.nz.
Enjoy the newest additions to the Te Papa digital collection of LGBTQI+ histories of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Learn about the history of Ballroom, Vogue traditions and Drag culture in Aotearoa. House Marama, OVĀ Collective and historian Chris Bricknell share the history of iconic performers and their cultural influence.
Participation in sport is not only about competition. It can be about finding ways to connect, to belong, and to be recognised, especially for queer community.
Historian Will Hansen explores some of the many forms of trans resistance throughout history, illustrated by objects held in Te Papa collections.
Poet Dani Yourukova responds to Daisy Tinney's photography in Te Papa collections.
Historian Will Hansen explores the origins of pride in Aotearoa New Zealand, and documents tensions between celebration and protest, and at times, the necessity for both.
Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag in 1978. He originally chose 8 colours and assigned the following symbolic meanings: pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic and art, indigo for peace and harmony, and purple for spirit.
Our LGBTI+ histories collection is loosely grouped according to these themes.
Queer art and artists make our community magic.
The turquoise and pink stripes in the Gilbert Baker 1978 Rainbow Flag were later removed in when the flag went into mass production in 1979, as the dye was difficult to come by.
Learn about the history of Ballroom, Vogue traditions and Drag culture in Aotearoa. House Marama, OVĀ Collective and historian Chris Bricknell share the history of iconic performers and their cultural influence.
Fashion and accessories have been an effective form of protest, communication, and self-expression for LGBTI+ and queer communities. LGBTI+ and queer communities use fashion through history to both signal identity and affirm it.
Gender and sexuality is a dialogue between us and the world, the culture, the community we inhabit. Poetry plays with form and potential, expressing nuance everyday normative language may fail to capture. Explore these works from poets from the LGBTQI+ community inspired by taonga in Te Papa collections.
Through art, LGBTQI+ communities make the invisible visible. LGBTQI+ artists share their histories, experiences and stories through visual mediums of painting, photography and digital illustration.
Turquoise is the stripe of the Gilbert Barker rainbow flag symbolising art and magic. Browse this section to find art by our community, for our community. From poetry, photography, illustration, to fiber arts, fashion and vogue ballroom.
The green stripe in Gilbert Barkers Rainbow Flag represented nature, while the yellow represents sunshine. Explore our nature and the people who bring sunlight into our lives by celebrating our trans and indigenous whānau.
Takatāpui is a traditional Māori term meaning ‘intimate companion of the same sex.’ It has been reclaimed to embrace all Māori who identify with diverse genders, sexualities and sex characteristics such as whakawāhine, tangata ira tāne, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, non-binary and queer.
Mahu, Vakasalewalewa, Palopa, Fa’afafine, Akava’ine, Fakaleiti or Leiti, Fakafifine have been part of families from all over the Pacific for a long time. The term MVPFAFF+ was coined by Phylesha Brown-Acton, to centre and bring forward discussions that include Rainbow Pacific peoples and the terms they identify with.
Transgender people and communities are taonga. Explore taonga involved in the making of trans histories.
"A day without lesbians is a day without sunshine" is a popular protest slogan in support of Lesbian rights. Explore the sunshine of lesbians related taonga in the Te Papa collections.
Explore our nature and the people who bring sunlight into our lives, celebrate our trans and indigenous whānau.
Rainbow bodies and minds interact uniquely with health and wellbeing due to social and institutional challenges. Discover more about LGBTQI+ histories around the AIDS pandemic, sexual wellbeing and mental health.
Historian Scott Pilkington explores the relationships between masculinity, mental health, and Queer participation in sport through taonga in Te Papa collections.
Participation in sport is not only about competition. It can be about finding ways to connect, to belong, and to be recognised, especially for queer community.
“I don’t know why I’m drawn to this object so much, but a silver ring fished out of your womb feels romantic.”
Vanessa Mei Crofskey offers personal reflections inspired by a Chinese intrauterine device (IUD) in Te Papa’s History Collection.
The New Zealand Quilt dates from 1988 and is part of a worldwide movement that grew from communities most affected by HIV and AIDS. The Quilt concept originated in San Francisco in 1987 in response to the devastating impact of AIDS. Its intention was to raise awareness and enable loved ones to express feelings of love, loss and regret in a permanent and tangible way.
In the original 8 colours of the Gilbert Barker rainbow flag, orange symbolises healing, to acknowledge the journey of overcoming past struggles.
Rainbow bodies and minds interact uniquely with health and wellbeing due to historically embedded social and institutional challenges. Connect to taonga in Te Papa collections related to the health and wellbeing of rainbow communties.
Explore the history of rainbow communities through protests, activism, symbols and words.
Gilbert Baker designed the first Rainbow Flag in 1978. Since then, his flag has been embraced across the world as the universal symbol of pride and solidarity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities.
Pride flags and symbols celebrate the diversity of LGBTQI+ communities and call for a more inclusive society. Badges, placards, flags and pins are all ways to express ourselves, protest, show Pride, connect and make a statement, big or small.
New Zealand Parliament's Rainbow Room is a select committee meeting room dedicated to the nation’s gay, lesbian, and transgender community and to their contribution to New Zealand society.
Watch the short documentary film "Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand" about the opening of the Rainbow Room on the New Zealand Parliament website.
Watch a documentary on voguing and FAFSWAG, listen to interviews with queer Kiwis, and dive into some excellent recent publications.
The red stripe in the Gilbert Baker Flag represents life, pulsating with the energy of living authentically. Browse the whole section related to LGBTQI+ lives and histories.
