Exhibition: Abridged
Students from the Bachelor of Visual Arts held an exhibition on the bridge linking buildings at the Gordon. The exhibition explored mans impact on nature. I exhibited 3 works, Forest Suburbia, Breath and Harbinger Tweet.
Tweet, Harbinger Tweet
har·bin·ger n.
One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner.
tweet n.
2. Digital Technology. a short message posted on the Twitter web site.
Canaries were used in coal mines to detect methane and carbon monoxide and the dangerous build up of colourless, odourless and tasteless gases. The miners would bring the canary into the mine in a small cage. While the canary was whistling and alive, the air was suitable for the miners to breath. The canaries provided a warning.
Like the canary in the coal mine, Australians native birds are a harbinger, an indication of the health of our environment. They are affected by physical and chemical impacts on their ecosystems.
When communities of birds change in composition or numbers, it is usually the result of ecological change.
The quantity and variety of birdlife is reliant on habitat.
Scientists over recent years have noticed that small birds are disappearing from our backyards as the biodiversity of plant species is being reduced.
Birds’ eggs absorb toxic industrial pollutants indicating the level of toxins in the environment; again providing a warning.
Nine species of Australia’s birds have become extinct since European settlement and at least 15 subspecies have also become extinct in that time. Many others are threatened.
‘Harbinger Tweet’- The birds in the postcard cages are representations of small birds found in Victoria. The two sided art works are hung by thread with swivels to move with the airflow. The silhouette side uses the postcard image to add colour, symbols and text. There is one empty cage representing extinct birds. The yellow canary in the black cage is a traditional harbinger symbol of warning. These colours are used in today’s society as a hazard sign.
An excellent App is available for mobile phones. It will identify a bird by the birdsong. Conserving birds and their habitat allows this app to be functional. The alternative is viewing birds through wire or worse through archives.
Birdsong is precious. Let the tweets come from our gardens and not only from our mobile phones.
