Finneytown, OH
Abby Friend
Birds Chirping
565 W North Bend Road, Cincinnati, OH 45224
Birds Chirping is inspired by a digital folder of screenshots collected over the course of the past three years. Each screenshot is taken from a movie or series where the sub-titles indicate a sound of nature: birds chirping, water tapping, seagulls cawing. Through the process of collecting these screenshots, I began to notice when nature was acknowledged and when it was ignored. Through this installation, these acknowledgments will be used as a springboard to give voice to the quiet parts of nature, the bleakness of climate change, and the movement towards a new way of being with the earth.
This installation will include sculptures made from found objects and recycled art supplies to create a parade, protest, and procession along the curve of the property at the home of Bryant Phillips. Phillips is the founder of Sonna Mae Heritage Farms, a regenerative CSA in honor of his grandmother, and hopes to give back radically to the land where the farm is located. Along with the screenshots, I will create larger than life birds, plants, and animals that are interspersed between banners that list the ten principles of Earth Democracy as written by Vandana Shiva. The 0.2 mile stretch of road along the property will be used to celebrate the biodiversity of life, fight back against the powers that seek to destroy it, and mourn the loss of the ancestors of the land that will never be able to return.
In principle, Birds Chirping is a call to action, prompting viewers to be in solidarity with the natural environment and to relinquish themselves back to the land from which we will all inevitably one day return.