Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons
August 26, 2017 6:39 AM Subscribe
Inspired by the traditional use of fiber-craft to provide safety and comfort, California-based artist Laurel Roth Hope (who is a former park ranger and conservationist) has been crocheting small suits for urban pigeons that disguise them as extinct birds, thereby (visually) re-creating biodiversity and placing a soothing "cozy" on environmental fears.
No worries about the pigeons modeling these exquisite costumes: they are hand-crafted mannequins.
More on: Mental Floss, BoingBoing.
No worries about the pigeons modeling these exquisite costumes: they are hand-crafted mannequins.
More on: Mental Floss, BoingBoing.
(See also: Predator Masks for Prey, a metalwork series.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:02 AM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:02 AM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
Pretty cool in concept but those costumes would render the pigeons flightless due to weight and restriction of movement. Plus they would be filthy in no time at all.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:57 AM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:57 AM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
I love absolutely everything about this. The idea is great and the execution is gorgeous.
posted by quaking fajita at 8:35 AM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by quaking fajita at 8:35 AM on August 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Love this. I also love when people complain that conceptual art won't work in real life. Like, the complaint becomes part of experiencing the art.
posted by ejs at 9:11 AM on August 26, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by ejs at 9:11 AM on August 26, 2017 [12 favorites]
I'm sure that the pigeon dressed as a dodo is a metaphor for something.
posted by gingerbeer at 9:35 AM on August 26, 2017
posted by gingerbeer at 9:35 AM on August 26, 2017
1. This is lovely and fantastic.
2. I wonder how hard it is to dress a pigeon. It's not hard to catch them. My partner got one to literally hop in their lap by coaxing it with hot dog buns crumbs, so I feel like pigeons can be coerced into doing a lot if bread is involved.
posted by brook horse at 9:43 AM on August 26, 2017 [4 favorites]
2. I wonder how hard it is to dress a pigeon. It's not hard to catch them. My partner got one to literally hop in their lap by coaxing it with hot dog buns crumbs, so I feel like pigeons can be coerced into doing a lot if bread is involved.
posted by brook horse at 9:43 AM on August 26, 2017 [4 favorites]
hippybear, I think her choice of medium may be obscuring this artist's genius from you and causing you to dismiss her prematurely, and that's too bad, because she's amazing. Try her peacocks series. Gorgeous and completely pigeon-free.
posted by Don Pepino at 12:13 PM on August 26, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Don Pepino at 12:13 PM on August 26, 2017 [5 favorites]
Oh god I love this!
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:45 PM on August 26, 2017
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:45 PM on August 26, 2017
Next must crochet costumes for cockroaches to look like monarch butterflies and bees and things.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:46 PM on August 26, 2017
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:46 PM on August 26, 2017
hippiebear:
If you create a costume for a creature that you will never catch and dress in that costume, are you really creating costumes for that creature?
hold my beer y'all
posted by Nibbly Fang at 3:33 PM on August 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you create a costume for a creature that you will never catch and dress in that costume, are you really creating costumes for that creature?
hold my beer y'all
posted by Nibbly Fang at 3:33 PM on August 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
This is really neat. Thanks for posting it. (The artist's Chandeliers series is also great!)
I suspect this isn't what the artist intended, but I have a hard time not looking at this celebration of pigeons. "Just think how much people would care about you if you happened to have a particular pattern of feathers, rather than the ones you were born with," the suits shout. I understand why the last remaining Seychelles Parakeet is objectively more important to the world than one pigeon out of hundreds of millions. . . but, I suspect I'd have a hard time convincing the individual pigeon of that fact. Instead of mourning the destruction of exotic birds and the growth of those adapted to urban environments, one can read this as a piece celebrating the individual beauty of urban animals typically ignored when we fetishize the rare and exotic.
Pigeons and raccoons hanging around in zoos are always fascinating to contemplate.
posted by eotvos at 3:35 PM on August 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I suspect this isn't what the artist intended, but I have a hard time not looking at this celebration of pigeons. "Just think how much people would care about you if you happened to have a particular pattern of feathers, rather than the ones you were born with," the suits shout. I understand why the last remaining Seychelles Parakeet is objectively more important to the world than one pigeon out of hundreds of millions. . . but, I suspect I'd have a hard time convincing the individual pigeon of that fact. Instead of mourning the destruction of exotic birds and the growth of those adapted to urban environments, one can read this as a piece celebrating the individual beauty of urban animals typically ignored when we fetishize the rare and exotic.
Pigeons and raccoons hanging around in zoos are always fascinating to contemplate.
posted by eotvos at 3:35 PM on August 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by nebulawindphone at 7:01 AM on August 26, 2017 [3 favorites]