White-Tailed Ptarmigan - Lost History of Women

Sculpture of a male and female white-tailed ptarmigan that sit on a cedar shelf. Pieces come apart for shipping and moving. Package will include installation instructions and advice. Below is my artist statement on this continuing series of work.

Dimensions: (without shelf) 9" x 17" x 12"

“Like other ladies, the little feathered brides have to bear their husband’s names, however inappropriate. What injustice! Here an innocent creature with an olive-green back and a yellowish breast has to go about all her days known as the black-throated blue warbler, just because that happens to describe the dress of her spouse!”

Florence Merriam Bailey, “Birds Through an Opera Glass”

Our focus on male birds reflects a bias in biology that parallels our patriarchal, human world. Much like important women throughout history, our knowledge of female birds is woefully understudied and usually described in relation to their male counterparts. 

Female birds' appearance and behaviors are often framed in a misogynistically anthropomorphized way, when in reality we can help conserve these species by understanding behavioral differences and the contrasting ways female birds interact with the environment. Without studying and protecting female birds, the way we do males, none of the species can thrive. Each of these defiant female birds live as an act of resistance to be defined by their partner.