An art gallery in Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand has a surprise in store for visitors in the way of a seemingly still portrait that moves and talks when approached.

Using facial recognition technology, the painting can map a human face in front of it and, when it does, the girl in the portrait – called Descendant X – begins to talk while her face moves.

The girl in the Descendant X, which is on display at the Chiaroni Gallery in Invercargill, is a Maori and begins to perform a 'mihi', which is a form of lament in that tongue.

"What's happening is the person who is being portrayed is talking about who they are and where they are from," said Greg McDonald, Chiaroni Gallery director and the man behind the painting.

McDonald has been hoping for some time that local grant funding bodies like the ILT Foundation and Community Trust South would commission more art with a local focus to "bring the city to life again".

This painting quite literally brings local culture to life and is the centrepiece of the newly-opened gallery, which shares its name with a gallery McDonald’s grandfather opened almost a century and a half ago.