Spirit Birds Collection
Header: Red-tailed black cockatoo
Of all Australian wildlife, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Callyptorhynchus funereus) is the one species I feel I have the deepest connection with and am in love with the most.
From their dreamy, haunting call, to the way this bird fills the sky with grace and spirit, there’s just something about them that pierces through my being, and tells me they are otherworldly.
All of Australia’s black cockatoos are stunning though, and it’s amazing how many people I meet that have a similar deep love and spiritual connection with these birds. Yet, despite this wide-spread love, their survival is increasingly coming under threat due to human impact.
In 2021, I decided to create a series that focused on exploring their beauty as well as the threats they face.
‘Messenger’, ‘Seer’, ‘Golden One’, ‘Spirit’ and ‘Taking Flight’ (vertically in order above) make up my ‘Spirit Birds’ collection, which was exhibited as part of the Collectables exhibition with the Maleny Printmakers, 2021.
This series of lino prints explore an undercurrent of urgency around environmental loss through the black cockatoo (Red-tailed and Yellow-tailed). Celebrating the beauty and wisdom that black cockatoos bring to the landscape, and to those who take the time to listen and connect.
With a lens on our current local (and national) conservation efforts, the question remains, ‘Will these sacred and beautiful birds be here for future generations, or simply a distant echo of something that used to be?’
Habitat loss due to land clearing for development, loss of mature trees which provide hollows for breeding, and the impacts of climate change are the biggest threats to these species.
While humans are capable of making more conscious choices about the way we interact with the natural world, and effective conservation strategies can bring species back from the brink of extinction, the same problems of threat and loss persist.
I’m curious about whether these problems would persist though, and how different our conscious efforts would be, if we were to slow down, and come back into right relationship with nature, ourselves and each other. It’s from this place, that I deeply believe, that everything that’s better for all of us flows.
This lino print series is currently on exhibition at Forest Heart ecoNursery Gallery Space for the month of September 2023 as part of the ‘Biodiversity in Focus’ exhibition.
Prints are limited editions of 50 only, and once sold, will no longer be in production.
They look most beautiful framed as a set, but can be purchased individually too.
‘Spirit Birds’ are 11.5cm x 13.5cm in size (paper), printed on 220 GSM acid free archival paper with black Japanese ink. ‘Messenger’ and ‘Golden One’ have 100% copper metal leaf detail.
