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Biodiversity Reclamation Suit: Passenger Pigeon

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

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Object Details

Artist
Laurel Roth Hope, born Concord, CA 1973
Exhibition Label
Before embarking on a career in the arts, Laurel Roth Hope worked as both a park ranger and a natural-resource conservator. Her time spent protecting and restoring habitats inspired a body of work that examines the adaptive abilities of some species versus others. In Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the artist crochets “sweaters” that mimic the plumage of extinct or endangered bird species. Despite their humor and charm, these works force us to confront the futility of recovering lost biodiversity. Roth Hope displays each suit on a hand-carved pigeon mannequin as a reminder that the animals we most revile are often the ones capable of surviving in a human-made environment.
The Singing & the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art, 2014
Hope uses humor to address the serious subject of species extinction in her Biodiversity Reclamation Suits. These suits allow common rock pigeons to masquerade as extinct North American birds -- if not actually to "reclaim" biodiversity, then at least to give the appearance of it. One can't help but smile, imagining these birds clad in their bright, borrowed feathers roaming our city streets, even as we note that the damage we do to our environment cannot always be undone.
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Copyright
© 2008, Laurel Roth Hope
2008
Object number
2013.76.1A-B
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Sculpture
Crafts
Medium
suit: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn mannequin: basswood, acrylic paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut
Dimensions
17 x 8 x 9 in. (43.2 x 20.3 x 22.9 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Renwick Gallery
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Animal\bird\pigeon
Record ID
saam_2013.76.1A-B
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk74b1f80a5-4808-4648-9d31-4b8a09e8fa44

Related Content

  • Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship: Art and Artists

  • Birds

  • Passenger Pigeon

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