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These feather mosaic sculptures represent a bonded pair of Glossy Black Cockatoos. The females can be identified by their striking red, orange and yellow tail bands. The mature male carries a single, vivid panel of deep red.
These feathers are rendered in mosaic, one of the world’s oldest visual languages. Pieces of glass are cut and assembled to build a story and convey the beauty of the feather forms. Yet despite the longevity of this medium, the subject matter reaches back even further. Descended from dinosaurs, these birds have called the Blue Mountains home for millennia, their presence an ancient cry carried across the landscape. In our region, the Glossy Black Cockatoo is now endangered. Habitat loss from urban expansion is forcing the birds to travel further for food and nesting, often with fatal consequences. These cockatoos mate for life, and family groups return annually to specific feeding trees, primarily the Allocasuarina or She Oak. When these trees are pruned at the wrong time, or worse, removed an entire family’s food source disappears. Rendered in mosaic, these sculptures honour the Glossy Black Cockatoo and stand as a testament to all endangered and vulnerable species within the Blue Mountains World Heritage landscape. They offer a visual reminder of the fragile terrain we inhabit and the living systems with which we exist in collaboration. |
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