murmuration
(2010)
tree bark, brick, beeswax, audio component

exhibited at the Gladstone, Toronto

mumuration:
1. an indistinct continuous sound as of far-off voices
2. starlings collectively, as in a flock of starlings

I was always fascinated by the trees on the CAMH grounds which had suffered some earlier illness and had their hollowed interiors bricked-up as a stop-gap measure. One early dawn the trees were filled with large numbers of starlings, all of them vocalizing at once. It seemed as if all the souls that had ever inhabited the “asylum” building, or walked the grounds, had manifested in the damaged trees and now in the inarticulate calls of the birds. This sculpture is an attempt to evoke that moment.

Note: Starlings are not indigenous to this continent but were brought here as caged creatures. They are known for mimicking human vocal patterns.