Ghosts of Gone Birds: Story of the Stephens Island Wren

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http://ghostsofgonebirds.goodsie.com/about

After exhibition, my piece has been included in the recently published book about this fundraising project !!

I am happy to say have a whole double page spread dedicated to my piece =)

Check out the book in all good bookstores (Waterstones, WH Smith, etc)

or direct from the publisher Bloomsbury here:

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosts-of-gone-birds-9781408187463/

MY PIECE HAS BEEN SELECTED BY THE JUDGES, AND WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE GHOSTS SWANSEA EXHIBITION !!

"GHOSTS OF GONE BIRDS is an ongoing art project dedicated to breathing life back into the birds we have lost – so we don’t lose anymore." - http://www.ghostsofgonebirds.com/Home.html

A 'Ghosts Swansea' pop-up exhibition is running alongside an Illustration Symposium being held at Swansea Metropolitan Univeristy in January 2013. - http://www.smu.ac.uk/spatialisingillustration/

For my submission, I chose to illustrate the story of the Stephens Island Wren.

This bird was both discovered and confirmed as extinct within just one year. It was one of only three flightless songbirds to ever exist in the world, and it is the only known species on Earth to be entirely wiped out by just one single being.

Stepehn's Island was located on a busy shipping route near New Zealand, so was deemed a good location to build a lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper, and sole human inhabitant of the island, Mr. David Lyall, had only Tibbles the cat for company. Tibbles was a skilled hunter, and brought home many 'gifts' of dead animals for her master, in pristine condition, including this Wren which was unlike any Lyall had ever seen.

After 11 of these birds were brought to him, Lyall shared his find, and it was classified by Sir Walter Buller (New Zealand's ornithological expert at the time) as a member of the wren family. However, thanks to Tibbles' expert skills, the wren colony on Stephens Island (perhaps a total of ten mating pairs), was confirmed to be extinct within the year. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A11484902)

When first researching the reasons behind this birds extinction, I misread the date stated as I am Dyslexic. Instead of the corrext 1894, I read 1984; which caught my interest and bemused me, as that is the year in which I was born. After further research, I felt very moved by this poor birds story. As a definite 'cat person', I could relate to the Lighthouse Keepers' need for companionship from his pet cat, but also the frustration he must have felt at the senseless killing of each individual little bird the cat brought home and presented so delicately as a special gift to him.

I was rather taken by the fact that this one lone feline was responsible for both the discovery and the destruction of this particular species of bird on the island; and in such a short period of time too. This resulted in my decision to include an image of the cat in my piece also (instead of focusing on the bird alone), he is casting a shadow over specimens of the bird he was solely responsible for burying.

Title - 'Stephens Island Wren Speedily Stalked'

Media - Mixed Media (wire & feather 2D bird sculptures embedded into my own original hand made paper, with gel-pen skeleton studies drawn on, and a cat engraved onto the glass held at the front of the 3D box frame)

For my submission, I chose to illustrate the story of the Stephens Island Wren.

Below: The Stephens Island Wren.

The past, and brief time we knew of this birds existence, is represented by 2D feather scultures. The present state of the birds, and complete extinction of it's species, is represented by the drawn skeleton studies. The two states kind of merge together in a visual representation of the brevity of the time between the discovery and destruction of the species.

Below: The culprit - Tibbles the cat, stalking his prey.

A subtle representation of the Tibbles in hunting mode, engraved into the glass at the front of the frame.

Below: The Wren's small, delicate, and fragile wing.

Could these inferior wings be the real reason behind this flightless songbird's demise? Would the power of flight have helped these poor little birds escape from Tibbles, and in turn, their very extinction?

Below: Tibbles on the prowl...

The stealthy feline figure stalks across the front of the frame, casting his shadow hauntingly over he presented specimens of the birds he single-handedly 'buried' in every sense.