Contemporary Australia: Women

83 Fly away home 2010 Bird nests courtesy of the Queensland Museum, paper, pencils, wallpaper, timber, MDF board, US dollars, glass Installed dimensions variable Installation views, ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’, Gallery of Modern Art, 2010 First commissioned by the Children’s Art Centre for ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’. Supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, 2010. Photographs: Katie Bennett As you say, your work deals with migration — what thoughts come to mind when you compare bird and human migration? There are parallels between human and bird migrations: both groups of ‘animals’ — after all, that is what humans are! — display migratory behaviour. A number of bird species are seasonal migrants and humans have, since earliest times, been on the move. I’ve heard some species of organisms described as ‘niche colonisers’ in an evolutionary sense, in that they have adapted to inhabit an environment which answers a species’ needs. Perhaps we are all ‘niche colonisers’, searching for some corner of our world where we can make a home and feel secure. With the tenderness of a loving parent, children create new species of paper birds and busily build nests softly lined for their fledglings. Some children even think to fill the nest with small paper balls representing eggs — the next generation. Are we witnessing nature at work here? How did you envisage children participating in Fly away home ? I hope that children will use their imaginations. Birds are free, we think, because they can fly. But they can also be aggressive, territorial, display interesting or unusual behaviour, be very clever architects, and nurture and protect their young. Just like us. Kate Ryan interviewed Fiona Hall on 22 January 2012. Fly away home was first commissioned by the Children’s Art Centre for ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’ 2010 and supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation. Fiona Hall