Artist Statement
‘Birds of a Feather’
Love, Materialism, Work and Knowledge are all journeys that we experience in our lives. I want to express how we confront these moments in life in unique ways, and yet how we are also all still connected by being human. ‘Birds of a Feather’ shows these different journeys through four bird characters on playing cards. Each suit of the playing cards represents a different hurdle in life. Hearts the journey of love, clubs the journey of knowledge, spades the journey of work and diamonds the journey of materialism.
Each bird confronts love, knowledge, work, and materialism in different ways, much like we all do. Each bird goes through a struggle in life. The owl jack wants to learn all he can but overworks himself. He learns that his health should always come first. The lovebird queen is heartbroken from abandonment and goes through a stage of self-pity. She then realizes that she should work towards loving herself. The peacock king is obsessed with himself and his riches. Overtime the king then understands that he should care for others, especially those close to him. The bluebird is a hard worker who refuses to indulge in the pleasures of life but realizes overtime that it is okay to take a break from her work.
These characters are all so different from one another because of their different challenges, but in the end, they are all still so similar. I have used the birds to show how, as people, we all live through an experience. The birds experience, love, knowledge, work, and materialism in their own unique ways and take on the challenges they face differently. They have accepted their own life turmoil. We all focus on our own issues, but to accept what we have been dealt in life, understanding what others are going through will help us. Even though we face our own battles we are not alone. We must accept the cards life deals us, and even as those cards are different, we are all still birds of a feather playing the same game in the end.