Janet Muir
Artist
Welcome to the world where art objects hold hidden narratives, waiting to be unveiled.
NightFlight at INLITE
The Lake Ohau spring storm of October 4th 2020 resulted in a devastating fire fuelled by the great winds. The fire took hold in the thousands of wilding pines which surrounded the village destroying 50 homes. Our home was amongst them. The intensity of loss and dislocation drew me into an extended period of reflection, self discovery and then, inevitably, back to my studio and a new body of work, NightFlight.
Sir Walter Buller was renowned for his meticulous documentation of New Zealand birdlife, with his ornithological illustrations first published in a History of the Birds of New Zealand in 1873.
My souvenir plate series reimagines this tradition, not to celebrate the vibrant diversity of these species but to confront the stark possibility that birds once abundant in their native habitats may soon be reduced to ornamental objects.
Each plate serves as a critique and memorial, positioning these species as emblems of a fading legacy, emphasizing their fragility and precarious existence.
These works are a vision of nature reduced to mere souvenirs reminding us of what we have lost and what we stand to lose.