Tidal
Birdy Loughlin
Two hundred fifty-one stones, one hundred forty-eight seashells, forty-six magpie feathers, nineteen fish vertebrae, twelve small bone fragments (animals unknown), eight lichen pieces, eight pieces of coral, five lake-shells, four fish jawbone fragments, four large bone fragments (animals unknown), four crow feathers, three cow teeth, three acorns, three pheasant feathers, two aquatic plant pieces, two magpie feet, two finch wings, two finch feet, two northern flicker feathers, two seagull feathers, three robin feathers, finch tail feathers, one finch skull, one northern flicker wing, one crow foot, one deer skull fragment with antler, wasp nest interior fragment, wasp nest exterior fragments, acrylic paint, modeling paste, plexiglass, on backside of unfinished Alberta landscape painting, and leather-bound journal.
183 x 77 x 60 cm. 2022.
This work is a personal inventory, confession and intervention. It was created with items I have taken from the land over the course of my lifetime. Although the items were collected with intentions of showcasing the beauty of the unseen, they remained half appreciated in shadow boxes rarely viewed by myself or others or in a box on a shelf. The process of creating was initiated with being honest with myself over my own guilt and negotiating my want versus need and finalized with forgiveness and a promise to myself and the land and its inhabitants. A promise to leave objects where they lay so they may benefit the natural environment. Who am I to further disrupt the land when my existence and participation within the Anthropocene leaves such a permanent scar already. The title refers to the currents, the ebb and flow of life and death, the cycling of elements or nutrients through processes of decomposition and erosion. It also describes my own give and take and return. Additionally the work is intended to participate in conversations about the impact of human tendencies and desires for the identification, categorization and discuss archival practices on an individual and institutional scale. Upon takedown of this installation, the objects that can be returned to their original locations will be returned, any that cannot will and must be used in future works or for other purposes. I plan to document the return or new life of these objects to the best of my ability. Any new discoveries that will not be used immediately for medicine or making will be photographed and cataloged in the journal that accompanies this piece so that the land may remain nourished and undisturbed.