Saturday 6 March 2010



The Redfern Bower

Artists Susan Milne and Greg Stonehouse. "This artwork transforms the mysterious courtship ritual of the bowerbird into a contemporary sculpture, using items from the Redfern community to reflect and celebrate the heritage of the area."

Wikipedia: "The most notable characteristic of bowerbirds is their extraordinarily complex courtship and mating behaviour, where males build a bower to attract mates. .. In and around the bower the male places a variety of brightly colored objects he has collected. These objects — usually different among each species — may include hundreds of shells, leaves, flowers, feathers, stones, berries, and even discarded plastic items, coins, nails, rifle shells, or pieces of glass. The males spend hours arranging this collection. Bowers within a species share a general form but do show significant variation, and the collection of objects reflects the biases of males of each species and its ability to procure items from the habitat, often stealing them from neighboring bowers. Several studies of different species have shown that colors of decorations males use on their bowers match the preferences of females."

More about bowerbirds - click here.
Opinions about this sculpture: click here.

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