This week I have been looking into Hyacinth Macaw birds, as they are a threatened species, all due to the cage bird trade and habitat loss. Habitat is being lost due to farmers setting annual grass fires which destroy nest trees. Locally, they have been hunted for food and their feathers, all to make headdresses and other ornaments.
So I have created a collection of work dedicated to these creatures, whether that is making a paper bird, painting a few feathers, or even digitally drawing, this should show awareness. I hope you see the developments I have made throughout my work, and I wish to carry on this process with many of the other animals that are threatened by endangerment.
I started to make a paper Hyacinth Macaw, and made a mock up of their wing out of tissue paper. All to see if I could get the right shape for the wings first.
Step by step it grew into something into something recognisable.
The final out come is made to look like it has been propped up on the wall like when you see taxidermic heads on the wall, this is the opposite as its just the body. I felt that was more fitting as they are hunted for their wings.
I decided to create some feathers, instead of the full bird, as that's one of the main reasons they are dying and I believe a feather is still very recognisable. It makes the viewers aware that this feather could be the only thing left of these beautiful creatures before long.
Here you can see I melted wax to make a delicate feather that shows how damaged these birds are when kept locked up as pets, or killed.
I also painted some using a homemade stencil and acrylic paint.
I wanted to try doing some digital work, and this is a sketch of these birds, I liked working in a messy style while doing digital, it means less clean up after. This was created on my iPad using an app called procreate.
I also paper quilled a feather, I think I should have done it on black paper to make the colours stand out more.
Here is some more digital work. Where you can see my process of creating a collage, of drawn leaves and a silhouette of these birds in flight.
These wings will have organza fabric added to them to make it look like actual feathers, not just a bit of cardboard. I painted them because the organza material is quite see through and I didn't want the brown card showing through. I also hope to make them look tattered and torn, I was thinking about burning the fabric, just like their homes get burnt. I was also going to add red paint to make it look like blood so they would stand out and make you realise there is a problem. these could hang from a ceiling, and if I use only a few wires to hang them, they could also have a moving effect.
These wings are also made to fit a human (my size). This could also be a feature installation where someone could walk around with them on their back like a live art project.
With being in lockdown it has been hard to get the materials I need so I have only been able to make one wing out of each material, but I am going to use them together. I think this will give a more organic feel, since they are not too similar but can still tell they are made from the same inspiration.
I had tried to burn it, but it wasn't taking to the cardboard so I have decided to add flames digitally.
This is me trying to add a burning fire effect to my wings, I did this digitally. I feel like it speaks more than the plain ones above. However I do believe need more digital practice.
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These pieces are me using digital based art, to distort and depict damaged wings. As you can see I tried to develop them all, some not working out as well as I had hoped, but most are helping me tell the story of these endangered birds well. They have the damaged or delicate feel I was hoping to achieve. These would be a great addition to my human sized wings, if I were to hang them in a gallery surrounding the wings.