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AUGURS AND SOOTHSAYERS
These chicken portraits were created to mirror a union of unlikely opposites. The common image of a banal barnyard animal is juxtaposed with exotic varieties. A play on multiple imaging and pairing contrast automated uniformity with unique individualism, comparisons of how this bird was viewed from ancient times to present, draws on both myth and mass production.
Photographed out of their natural environment, unique features become more apparent. The enlarged scale of these portraits is not purely for ornithological study, but rather allows us to see ourselves existing in
their scale.
In ancient times birds were at the center of man’s existence. In Augustan Rome it was believed that chickens were the divine messengers of the gods. As one of the oldest forms of fortune telling, augury is the art of foreseeing future events by observing the behavior of birds. This revered practice was so important, it was promoted by the Emperor, worthy of it’s own college in the Roman religious establishment. Military and political decisions were based according to the chicken’s behavior.
Increasingly animals have moved out of our view. English writer, John Berger wrote an essay titled “Why Look at Animals?” in which he suggests that the loss of everyday contact between man and animal have left us confused about our relationship. Specifically, he writes about looking an animal in the eyes. While gathering information for his book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollen writes … “but this is what can happen to you when you look. And what you see when you look is the cruelty – and the blindness to cruelty – required to produce eggs that can be sold for 79 cents a dozen.”
Susan Squier suggests, “Augury is a type of knowledge-making about present and future that is in danger of disappearing in the 21st century: the knowledge gained by intimate relations with animals. Accepting animals farmed for their meat and eggs in a process of rationalized scientific management, we have lost the ability to see what they augur for our collective future.”
Today’s augury is a new mode of awareness, recognizing a need to re-connect our relationship with animals built around honor, crucial to ongoing life, human health and cultural ritual.
Beth Moon
2010
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