Children for or Against the Destruction of Birds

2014
pencil on paper, ceramic sparrow mask, exciter amplifier
16: 59.5 x 42 cm

Children for or Against the Destruction of Birds, is a series of drawings that focus on distinct details from a single photo that conveys contradictory facts and narratives: an image illustrating a classroom of schoolchildren demonstrating against the destruction of birds (Eastern Europe, 1942). The image is unsettling due to the setting in which it was produced: a group of children protesting the destruction of an animal species in the midst of the Second World War. These students showed their allegiance with song-birds through mimetic devices – donning masks to imitate the birds, demonstrating that the destruction of one genus has a broad effect on the whole ecological system. This series of sixteen drawings aims to highlight representational strategies of sympathetic mimesis and disguise, and serve as research for future performative works.

Credits

  • Photographer: Kai Wido Meyer

Exhibition History

  • Ankyloglossia (n. Tongue-tie)
    2014
    Künstlerhaus Bethanien
    Berlin, DE

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