Story Info
Story Info
Glenn and Jill Albrecht
Newcastle, NSSW, Australia
2016
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
We collected objects and detritus from Newcastle Beach in New South Wales in Australia and put together the bird symbol that is used for this event the world over. The bird was made of shells, coral, seaweed and other ocean debris. Newcastle has abundant coal seams along the coast so we also get smooth lumps of coal washed up on the beach. The coal was placed inside the bird to indicate that there is a coal mine within the lungs of this “canary”. We placed white, bleached coral inside this bird and it was a symbol of the Great Barrier Reef in Eastern Australia which is under severe threat of death from global warming. As the beach also had plastic waste we placed the plastic in the belly of the bird to indicate the real threat to marine life from plastic waste. We think the bird had a fragile beauty about it… “alive” but under threat from multiple sources of pollution. The bird and its beauty was there until high tide… and then it flew away (although we put the plastic in a recycling bin!).
We collected objects and detritus from Newcastle Beach in New South Wales in Australia and put together the bird symbol that is used for this event the world over. The bird was made of shells, coral, seaweed and other ocean debris. Newcastle has abundant coal seams along the coast so we also get smooth lumps of coal washed up on the beach. The coal was placed inside the bird to indicate that there is a coal mine within the lungs of this “canary”. We placed white, bleached coral inside this bird and it was a symbol of the Great Barrier Reef in Eastern Australia which is under severe threat of death from global warming. As the beach also had plastic waste we placed the plastic in the belly of the bird to indicate the real threat to marine life from plastic waste. We think the bird had a fragile beauty about it… “alive” but under threat from multiple sources of pollution. The bird and its beauty was there until high tide… and then it flew away (although we put the plastic in a recycling bin!).
Newcastle, NSSW, Australia
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