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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
Before embarking on a career in the arts, Laurel Roth Hope worked as both a park ranger and a natural-resource conservator. Her time spent protecting and restoring habitats inspired a body of work that examines the adaptive abilities of some species versus others. In Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the artist crochets “sweaters” that mimic the plumage of extinct or endangered bird species. Despite their humor and charm, these works force us to confront the futility of recovering lost biodiversity. Roth Hope displays each suit on a hand-carved pigeon mannequin as a reminder that the animals we most revile are often the ones capable of surviving in a human-made environment.
The Singing & the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art, 2014
The Singing & the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art, 2014
- 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
