Existing comment:
Orange Thrush
2004
chromogenic print
Paula McCartney
born Pittsburgh, PA 1971
Paula McCartney's Bird Watching photographs playfully parody the bird watcher's desire to identify and inventory their avian finds. Although she does not consider herself a birder, McCartney collects field guides and uses them to help name her craft-store birds and provide believable attributions. Like the photographs themselves, the accompanying specimen labels are a combination of truth and fiction. They lend a sense of authority, albeit false, to the images and enhance the illusion. The labels also serve as a reminder that our experience and understanding of nature is mediated through a wide range of tools and cultural conventions, like the field guide |