The East Asia-Australia Flyway is a migratory shorebird highway that over 8 million birds use to travel between the Arctic Circle and Australia.[1] Countless tiny birds make this amazing journey each year, however their path is now being impacted by climate change and growing urbanisation in coastal areas. In considering the challenges and costs that migration carries for these little birds, including natural and manmade barriers as well as their own mortality, I was compelled to compare this experience to that of humans migrating overseas.
My sculptural practice therefore examines animals as a motif to explore our relationships with the natural world. Sinking islands, the monopolisation of coastal areas, and other social and political issues have significantly impacted both human and bird life. I am interested in the definition of political borders, and the inevitability of animal and human passage across them. This capacity for movement reveals a shared vulnerability in the landscape, and is conceptualised by the fusion of the silhouetted forms into a hybrid creature in my work. Fusing these forms highlights the tendency of both species to travel vast distances, and their fragility suggests a vulnerability to the landscapes they inhabit along the way.
The Rise and Fall is the second in a body of work to be made under this theme. Here, the notions of vulnerability and the cost of migration are enhanced, with the solitary figures having some capacities removed through the loss of wings and arms. The legs are drawn together and restricted from movement, yet the angular heads and elongated bodies evoke emotive postures.
