Snow’s predicted and it’s pouring rain on this second day of May, so I thought I’d post these bright and spring-y showbird pictures by Luke Stephenson. I’ve been thinking lately about how prevalent birds are in animal-centric photography (as you can probably see here). I’m interested in this form of objectification of live animals. The bird looks regal, so much so that it actually reads as an ornament. I think these photographs are really beautiful and oddly evocative, even though they seem so straightforward.
From Belfast Exposed: Luke Stephenson is interested in documenting subcultures within British culture. In his series An Incomplete Dictionary of Showbirds, Stephenson has photographed birds commonly kept as domestic pets in the U.K. that are entered into ‘showbird’ competitions. The flattened spatial dimension and uniform background of Stephenson’s images remove any trace of either the birds’ natural environment or the living rooms and competitions where they are found in the U.K. In fact, the photographs eradicate any sense of the birds as real, living creatures. Instead they are presented as purely decorative, fantastical forms, to be viewed in the same way that one might look at depictions of birds of paradise on the pages of an illustrated book.
From “An Incomplete Dictionary of Showbirds”
Visit artist's site: lukestephenson.com
Found via: urbanautica
Posted May 2nd, 2013
