Richard Crawford’s posing of model birds on cheap plastic consumer goods both highlights the presence of birds around our commercial endeavours and perhaps comments on the destructive results of consumerism.
99 : Goldfinches on a wall of pound shop plastic by Richard Crawford
2012
Richard Crawford’s posing of model birds on cheap plastic consumer goods both highlights the presence of birds around our commercial endeavours and perhaps comments on the destructive results of consumerism.
From many of the objects featured so far, it can be seen that birding as a hobby has been refined by technological developments into becoming a multi-disciplined pastime, often both intellectual and compulsive, and the technology keeps on coming.
But aside from its practical manifestations, birding has also gained a wider presence in the media and arts, particularly in the last two decades. Artists like Richard Crawford notably use urban waste and plastic bought from ‘pound shops’ as perches for models of common birds, in an attempt to highlight the avian presence in our lives and cities.
Several artists employ stuffed birds in installations and friezes. The most remarkable of these artists is the sculptor Polly Morgan, a trained taxidermist who assembles still life displays of birds and mammals she has preserved. These are collected as roadkill or donated by pet and cagebird owners, and carefully – sometimes disturbingly – placed among man-made materials and objects. The representation of birds, like all art, has come a long way since the Renaissance.
In broadcast media, several documentaries highlighting the more eccentric aspects of twitching have been broadcast on the major terrestrial channels in both Britain and North America, but the hobby itself has probably been seen as less esoteric over the years, bearing in mind the viewing public’s appreciation of a plethora of high-quality wildlife documentaries – when nature looks so intriguing, dramatic and exciting, why would it be quirky or weird to want to see it at close quarters?
It has been claimed that a number of celebrities enjoy birding, and while novelists like Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Franzen are well known for their direct involvement, claims that Mick Jagger and Darryl Hannah are birders are exaggerated at best. However, several pop musicians certainly are. Indie bands Elbow and British Sea Power feature birders among their number, while whole albums by artists such as Piney Gir and Shearwater have featured birding as an inspirational concept.
While the days when birders were widely viewed with suspicion are still with us and glamour is in limited supply, many people from mainstream walks of life seem happy to admit their love for birds and involvement in what can be seen as quite a nerdy hobby; sometimes they even feel able to express that involvement through their art.
Birds are alluring and deeply involving, being both obvious enough to attract human attention and secretive enough to give an observer a lifetime’s worth of discovery and study. Our technology can reveal new layers to this discovery and our creativity express how we feel about the innate mystery of unknowable fellow creatures, but we will never peel back the last layer.
Perhaps that is why a select group of people return to birds as if they were unfinished personal business, time after time, never getting to the heart of their fascination but always loving its pursuit.