Blue Bird of Paradise
I recently contributed a specimen to Preserved! an online collection exploring Cultures of Preservation curated by Petra Lange-Berndt. The collection emerged from the AHRC Research Network The Cultures of Preservation. From 2010 to 2012 taxidermists, artists, historians of art and science, curators and London-based institutions such as the Natural History Museum, the Hunterian Museum and … Continue reading
Fashioning Feathers @ the Royal Alberta Museum
I am delighted to announce Fashioning Feathers will be opening at the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) on March 24 2012! This show will be different than the original FAB show as we are incorporating RAM collections into the show. We are making the most the the RAM’s fantastic Natural History specimens – using them to … Continue reading
Birds of Paradise Close Up
Specimen Artefact as Object-Based Archive Caitlin DeSilvey has observed that the ‘the disarticulation of a cultural artefact [can] lead to the articulation of other histories and geographies’ in the present (2006: 329) and, similarly, Tim Edensor argues that the physical destruction of objects ‘reveals the artifice through which they are structured to withstand ambiguity’ (Edensor … Continue reading
Artefact as Archive: Evidence of ‘Willowing’ on Ostrich Plume
Artefact as Archive A recent vein of creative historical research has reconsidered ‘the limits and location of any set of materials determined as “archive”’ (Lorimer 2009). Within this body of work, researchers have highlighted that material encounters and material entities can be rich resources for historical recovery (Kurtz 2001; Till 2001; DeSilvey 2006, 2007b; Featherstone … Continue reading
Photographic Study of Three Millinery Prepared Parrots
A closer look at the three dyed-black millinery prepared parrot specimens in the University of Alberta Clothing and Textiles Collection. “Much has been written on the hollowness of souvenirs, their intrinsic sadness and the ultimate futility of collecting things in an effort to remember places and events. Perhaps none is more poignant than that which … Continue reading
Study of “Hat with Bird”
‘… as practices lose their place in a historical form of life, they may leave abandoned wreckage behind them which can then take on new life, generating new hybrids or simply leavings which still have resonance. Take the example of things. These may have been vital parts of particular networks of practice, only to fall … Continue reading
Fashioning Feathers... 