Avian Sentinel

Product description

Image. 28 x 37

Mixed (printed paper, acrylic paint and cotton thread)

Nine dry point prints, printed from waste tetra pak, which have been hand sewn together with black thread to form a patch work with exposed seams. Each print is painted with black acrylic in graduation, to slowly obscure the main bird motif, in effect muffling the warning cries. In this context, these are the warning cries nature repeatedly presents but society chooses to ignore in the name of profit and power.

In reaction to the “Earth - Safe as Houses” call out I was immediately drawn to the idea of the canary in the coal mine, as a well known idiom, relating to an early warning sign or indicator of hidden danger or trouble. Of all the sentinel species, I particularly appreciated the immediate and clear connections the canary has with fossil fuel extraction and mining history, both of which hold a key role in the conservation on climate and are the undercurrent to a rich social working history in Northern England, especially on this the centenary anniversary since the general strike of 1926.