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Laurel Roth Hope, Biodiversity Reclamation Suit: Passenger Pigeon, 2008, suit: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn mannequin: basswood, acrylic paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2013.76.1A-B, © 2008, Laurel Roth Hope
Hope uses humor to address the serious subject of species extinction in her Biodiversity Reclamation Suits. These suits allow common rock pigeons to masquerade as extinct North American birds — if not actually to “reclaim” biodiversity, then at least to give the appearance of it. One can’t help but smile, imagining these birds clad in their bright, borrowed feathers roaming our city streets, even as we note that the damage we do to our environment cannot always be undone.
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
- Title
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Biodiversity Reclamation Suit: Passenger Pigeon
- Artist
- Date
- 2008
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 17 x 8 x 9 in. (43.2 x 20.3 x 22.9 cm)
- Copyright
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© 2008, Laurel Roth Hope
- Credit Line
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- suit: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn mannequin: basswood, acrylic paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut
- Classifications
- Keywords
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- Animal – bird – pigeon
- Object Number
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2013.76.1A-B
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI