Monoprints - 2011/2012
'Conservation of the Species' series
Why do we loath pigeons so much? Who can we blame when they take over our public spaces, littering window sills with bird faeces and spreading lice?
Why do we try so hard to control the Scrub Turkey? Yes they create chaos in our gardens but who was there first?
"Conservation of the Species" is a series of monoprints that explores the displacement of bird species within the Australian urban environment.
My monoprints feature bird species with unsavory reputations in present day urban environments. The pigeon and the scrub turkey are examples where I suggest that these
urban ‘pests’ are really just another species of bird where we have upset the balance of nature by moving in on their territory.
I use light-hearted imagery of birds frozen like museum specimens or turn-of-the century botanist's illustrations, slightly unnatural in pose to capture the viewer in a fictional moment in time. Repetition adds humour and emphasis to my commentary on our infringement of bird habitats and territories.
This series of works is an invitation to the viewer to smile whilst they enter my alternate version of the natural world, a place where the humble pigeon is revered as much as the majestic eagle soaring overhead.
Why do we try so hard to control the Scrub Turkey? Yes they create chaos in our gardens but who was there first?
"Conservation of the Species" is a series of monoprints that explores the displacement of bird species within the Australian urban environment.
My monoprints feature bird species with unsavory reputations in present day urban environments. The pigeon and the scrub turkey are examples where I suggest that these
urban ‘pests’ are really just another species of bird where we have upset the balance of nature by moving in on their territory.
I use light-hearted imagery of birds frozen like museum specimens or turn-of-the century botanist's illustrations, slightly unnatural in pose to capture the viewer in a fictional moment in time. Repetition adds humour and emphasis to my commentary on our infringement of bird habitats and territories.
This series of works is an invitation to the viewer to smile whilst they enter my alternate version of the natural world, a place where the humble pigeon is revered as much as the majestic eagle soaring overhead.