Between Benches — Branches seeks to integrate installation, lyrical storytelling and field study -birdwatching. The theme connecting these strands is the exploration of fragility, memory, and adaptation in relation to environment and perception. Artworks function as vessels for memory and recollection. Drawing upon observed avian behaviours as narrative devices, lyrical and speculative storytelling are employed as means to reflect upon contemporary social conditions, positioning birds as both counterparts and mirrors of human experience. Together, these elements generate an environment in which the viewer becomes a performer, while simultaneously receiving an invitation to contemplation.
Absurd as the numbness of modern life, in this allegorical world of nature, culture and myth, past and future are juxtaposed and re contextualised environmentally and technologically. The fragile illusion of dominance over nature is uncovered parallel with the displacement of avian habitats and loss of humanity. The tension between individual self care and the collective nature of struggle is exposed. With moral dilemmas materialised in space, the installation works emerge as visual poems, revealing human virtues and vices, questioning the ethics of human development.
Firmly focused on avian species, the exhibition aims to engage a broad audience from children to adults who share an interest in birds. It also invites those who may not initially be drawn to birds to engage through the relational and reflective dimensions of the work.
Iterative reading, deconstruction, and reassembly into texts that function as scientific observation and short parable respond to the brevity of contemporary attention spans. Accessible, occasionally humorous language and headline like structures foster inclusivity and connection across diverse audiences.
As this means, the exhibition is not solely anthropocentric; it also seeks to address issues affecting avian species. City birds are also part of the audience, as this exhibition is also partly thanks to them! It situates itself at the intersection of ecology and anthropocentric systems, challenging notions of consumption and control while negotiating the contradictions inherent in human engagement with the material and conceptual world. It highlights these struggling avian species and advocates for the awareness and empathy towards them. By embracing vulnerability and partial surrender, it seeks to create a liminal space where human and avian forms converge, where timeless allegories meet the complexities of the modern world.
