Paula McCartney, Orange Thrush, 2004, chromogenic print, 24 x 20 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2010.44.1A-B, © 2010, Paula McCartney
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.
