Avian Climate Messengers

This visual essay and video work were commissioned by Philip Ely, for the 'Climate Domesday Book': a speculative design project that explores contemporary questions related to the climate emergency. The book is a hybrid print-digital device designed by researchers in Australian and the UK, which uses a magic bookmark to read pages and trigger (via Bluetooth) an interaction: the playing of a video or audio on a nearby big screen. Our contribution explores ways to affectively communicate biodiversity loss in the Sixth Extinction through creative practice, particularly through visual metaphor and synecdoche. In this case, we focus on the Black-Throated Finch as a modern day canary in (Adani's) coal mine