Ben Reid - 'A Bird in the Hand'
Front Gallery, 2nd–20th September 2009
Ben Reid’s work expresses conflicting emotions, experienced when surveying the damage done by human habitation to this country’s fragile ecology. There are many losses to mourn, but also small victories to celebrate. Recent conservation measures have proven successful in rescuing endangered birds from extinction, but as Reid shows us, these efforts can never stop. His delicate and elegantly structured prints remind us of what is at stake: the unselfconscious grace and beauty of New Zealand’s indigenous birds, as well as their utter dependence on our protection when faced with the destructive impact of human habitation.