Banned birthdays take the cake
Wishing a happy birthday to a baby called Lucifer or 5-year-old named Justice has been impossible in New Zealand, with both names banned. But all that’s changed – if only for a few weeks.
As a way to pay homage to the ‘‘uncelebratable’’, Kiwi photographer Henry Hargreaves has a new series of works depicting birthday cakes for baby names submitted and subsequently declined.
Hargreaves, originally from Christchurch, now lives in New York, where he creates colourful, nostalgic works that have been exhibited all over the world.
For this latest series, Birthdays
That Will Never Come, he was given free rein by the Wellington On A Plate (WOAP) team to create a foodinspired exhibition, just as long as there was a New Zealand element.
‘‘I had heard a story about the Department [of Internal Affairs] banning kids’ names and I knew I wanted to do something with that, so this was the perfect opportunity,’’ Hargreaves said.
He quickly sent out an Official Informative Act request to get a list of the rejected names.
Since the introduction of the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Act 1995, 569 names had been declined, giving Hargreaves plenty of birthday cake options.
Names are declined in a handful of cases where they are deemed offensive, unreasonably long, or when they include or resemble an official title or rank.
He settled on 12 names, ranging from the very regal Queen Victoria, through to the more obscure 4Real.
The exhibition also serves up a heavy dose of nostalgia with the created cakes’ reminiscent of the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book
‘‘An Australian friend had a copy in her apartment in New York. When you go through and look at it, the cakes look so gross and inedible but I remember as a kid being in awe of them.’’
He decided on the most ‘‘kooky and interesting’’ cake options to represent each name, with just one wishlist cake not making the final cut. ‘‘I really wanted to do the swimming pool but they don’t have chocolate fingers in America. That was my biggest disappointment in the series.’’
While Hargreaves was happy to leave each of the works open to the public’s interpretation, he foresaw it prompting a lot of conversation.
‘‘I think there’s a question there, is the Government over-reaching? Do they have a place in dictating what you should call your children?
‘‘I wonder how different Mafia No Fear’s life would be if he wasn’t [now] little Toby.’’ Birthdays That Will Never Come is on display at Wellington’s Precinct 35 on Ghuznee St until August 31.