Taking its name from the seminal book by Michel Foucault, The Order of Things documents scientific collections in museums. Taxonomy – the science of naming, describing and classifying organisms – gives structure to the series, with each genus presented as single major work hung en masse in a grid structure as a typology.
Neil Pardington is of Maori (Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Kati Waewae) and Scottish ancestry. He is one of New Zealand's most established contemporary photographers. His critically acclaimed series of works The Clinic and The Vault, photographed over a ten-year period, document the history and practices of medicine and collecting.