Long Live The Species - Diminishing Art Walk
I was invited to participate in the Diminishing Art Walk which is an extension of Long Live The Species.
The initial project started when I contributed some art works to the Day of the Species, a national community art project that arose in 2020. Carmel Killin is the amazing creator of the project, which features all of Australia’s national threatened species - all 1,851 of them!!
Long Live the Species will be held from Saturday 1st - Friday 7th October, 2020 between 10am - 4pm daily. It will feature all of the artworks in the project created by hand onto tiny bits of recycled packaging. It is quite overwhelming when you see it in person - to think so many species are at risk and need our help. Access to the installation will be via a bush track through the native forest of Wilsons Downfall.
You can read more about Long Live the Species here. Carmen has an amazing website with so much information, it is a great reference for educating both children and adults alike.
You can also follow her social media on Instagram.
Diminishing Art Walk
Now I have the exciting moment to introduce you to one of the newest contributions of the project. As part of Long Live the Species there will be a Diminishing Art Walk. Large scale original artworks will act as signposts along the walk as you meander down the paths and walk through the bush.
With a mixture of pieces created by artists of varying experience, ages and locations, these works are created on cardboard. Allowing them to disintegrate and degrade naturally amongst the outdoors for the duration of the exhibition, a reflection of the species challenges in real life.
My animal of choice was the Red Goshawk Erythrotriorchis radiatus . It is a powerful hawk with big yellow feets and sharp talons. It is one of Australia’s rarest bird of prey, often getting confused with many other hawks. Although it can be found in various states of Australia, there is believed to be less than 10 of these hawks left in New South Wales and it is Critically Endangered. Ongoing clearance of native forests and woodland for farming means there are very little forests left to live and nest in.
They eat medium to large birds (including Kookaburras, Tawny frogmouths and Cockatoos!). They also like to eat mammals, reptiles and insects.
You can read heaps more facts at the following sites - NSW Environment // Wikipedia // Birdlife Australia
Title : Red Goshawk
Medium : Acrylic on Cardboard
Size : 42cm x 59cm (A2)
