Recently I found a goose feather and as I walked, with the feather in my hand, I noticed how the feather responded to the wind. I felt how a bird feels as it flies.
At the Cooper Hewitt in New York City, there is an exhibit titled “Rebeca Mendez Selects” which highlights the fate of the Aztec ruler’s, Moctezuma II’s, private aviary at the hands of the Spanish conquerors. The Spanish set fire to his aviary and killed all the birds, which had come from all over the Americas. That this act demonstrates the destructive powers inherent in colonialism; it also illustrates the tensions arising from our conflicting impulses towards nature. This exhibit shows birds as sources of art, design and science and also discusses the effects of climate change and human avarice.
Feathers float above a woman’s tattooed thigh.
Fragile Rainbow: Traversing Habitats
Opening on May 7th at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in Williamsburg, New York is an exhibit organized by ecoartspace of art focused on the environment by over 50 artists. The exhibit, named to reflect the fragility of nature: Fragile Rainbow: Traversing Habitats highlights nature in and surrounding the urban environment of New York City. The curator Sue Spaid created what will be a sensorial experience of works that amplify habitats’ various voices from birds to bladderwrack, clouds, cochineals, compost, coral reefs, cows, deer, flowers, fungi, human beings, jellyfish, knotweed, lichens, mangroves, metals, minerals, mugworts, mushrooms, plastic, rainbows, rivers, roots, rust, seeds, shells, soil, the sun, rivers, trees, watersheds, and worms.
One of my works, “Blossoming Oak Tree”, will be included in the exhibition.
The opening will be on Saturday, May 7, 3-5pm. The exhibition closes on Saturday, June 4, with a closing reception from 4-6pm. There will be events and talks taking place during the month of the exhibit.
