the feathered

an exploration of nonhuman labour

                the material labour of pigeons

the view of a whole

List of Diagrammatic Constellations:

C.1 the building of homes, video, North London, 16’28”, 2016.

the exile, restorative construction documentation, 2017.

the material labour of pigeons, polypropolene diagram and

remnant wood, 2016.

C.2 offspring of . . ., discarded moss grow site, taxidermy pigeon on

bowler hat from London Taxidermy (ethically and legally

sourced), wood remnants, flowers from various sources, 2017.

C.3 a building of home, a loft for non-lethal pigeon population

control, installed on UCL property (on-going), 2017.

C.4 (in)definite, hanging larder bird from the London Taxidermy

(no animals are killed for their purposes), 2017.

the building of home and the exile

C.5 to speak with another, artist and Cornell Lab of Ornithology

recordings, 2’22”, 2016.

C.6 manimal merch, map, cards, wearable bitch bird, 2017.

C.7 a beneficiary, diagram of pigeon labour and site of production

#1 and mirror, 2017.

C.8 ground score #three, drip painting on paper, collaborative artistpigeon

action at the ‘Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service in

North London, 2016.

ground score #thirteen, wet-specimen pigeon chick from Etsy

store ’Gemmas Curiosity Shop’ on paper, 2017.

C.9 the site of production #two, retired barbed wire and angle metal

from a local homes construction site, 2017.

offspring of . . . 

a building of home

manimal merch

What is Anthrodecentric Art?

In this time of climate change, mass extinction and global consequences due to human activity, I believe that art needs to

provide a space for dialogue and creative problem solving. I am not claiming that art does not and has previously been involved in such

conversations, but that a specific framework for the practice and critique of art should be declared from the space of ecological

concern. Here and now I am proposing the term anthrodecentric art as the term and as the framework to enter these discussions.

The four tenets of anthrodecentric art are:

• art that allows for the visibility of nonhuman agency

• art that operates through non-Cartesian modes of representation

•art that subsists on sustainable economic models

•art that engages with materials sustainably

** A brief statement on material resistance **

I am proposing that the rise and fall of the exploitation of pigeons’ labour operates as a possible proof of Marx’s prediction of the rise and fall, or rather

the exploitation and exile, of the productive power within capitalism. As a response to the exile following the fall of the pigeon, pigeons have developed a

relationship of material labour with its human co-existents. Material labour resists the exploitation that accompanies the abstraction of capitalist economy

and does not alienate the labourer as they are working for a mutual need. This is a labour-relation based upon physical reality which in turn shapes perception.