North Sydney Art Prize 2024

HOLDING…2024, acrylic on external plywood, steel star pickets, approx 5 x 4 m

We have been chosen as finalists in the North Sydney Art Prize 2024, 11 May - 2 June, exhibiting 3 billboards which continue our advocation for the environment and the regent honeyeater.

This our statement in the catalogue:

Many species of native fauna are now threatened in the Anthropocene. One is the flagship species the regent honeyeater, whose numbers have plummeted to near extinction. Through billboards of abstracted landscapes with glyphs of birdsong, and field recordings, 'HOLDING…' is a response to loss and absence.

Listen to the regent honeyeater birdsong above recorded in the Blue Mountains area by Ross Crates from the Difficult Bird Group of the ANU.

Update on the regent honeyeater: For a number of years the conditions in the Capertee Valley weren’t suitable for nesting. BirdLife Australia reports that the 2023 breeding season resulted in more than a dozen nests and at least 16 fledglings, thanks to efforts to protect the nests. A few wild females even mated with previously-released birds that were bred in the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. 14 more birds were released in November 2023. The breeding and release recovery program by Taronga Zoo and BirdLife Australia continues.