I regularly publish visual art-focused critiques that contribute to current thought by examining and reflecting on the changing relationships between humans and nature. My key project, Birds & Language, is an extension of this research and has involved making abstract bird sculptures and working in cross-disciplinary and inclusive ways.
Through Birds & Language, I bring together artists, thinkers and conservationists, providing an opportunity to build grounds for a cross-disciplinary encounter between the natural sciences, the humanities, and the creative arts. I lead research in unique fusions of linguistics, ornithology, evolutionary theory, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, music, and so on, extending and challenging existing hierarchies and moving the parameters of visual art practice into exciting new transdisciplinary ways of working.
These bird projects have included:
- A two-day Birds and Language Conference hosted by USyd SACE (co-convened with Ian Maxwell) with international and national attendees and presenters. The two days concluded with an online pop-up exhibition (due to COVID-19 restrictions). The conference and exhibition were an enormous success, with significant external reach: 346+ registrations and 70 in attendance (two days). From Darwin to Tasmania, 20 writers and 20 artists contributed to this national event.
- A major exhibition, Birds and Language, at one of NSW’s largest regional art museums, Wollongong Art Gallery, supplemented by special events and accompanied by a 15-page colour catalogue (print), which included my 2800-word critical curatorial essay about 21 artists, previewed in Artist Profile Magazine.
- Following this, Jen Valender and I edited a ‘Birds and Language’ edition of Unlikely – Journal for Creative Arts. Unlikely is run by The University of Melbourne and is a prestigious transdisciplinary journal, which aims to open unexpected spaces for artistic exchange and scholarly conversations across mediums, disciplines and continents (Issue 08). We published 17 double-blind peer-reviewed scholarly essays and 14 media-rich creative research projects in the Project Space.