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Catalog Data

Artist:
Laurel Roth Hope, born Concord, CA 1973  Search this
Medium:
suit: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn mannequin: basswood, acrylic paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut
Dimensions:
17 x 8 x 9 in. (43.2 x 20.3 x 22.9 cm)
Type:
Sculpture
Crafts
Date:
2008
Exhibition Label:
Before embarking on a career in the arts, Laurel Roth Hope worked as both a park ranger and a natural-resource conservator. Her time spent protecting and restoring habitats inspired a body of work that examines the adaptive abilities of some species versus others. In Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the artist crochets “sweaters” that mimic the plumage of extinct or endangered bird species. Despite their humor and charm, these works force us to confront the futility of recovering lost biodiversity. Roth Hope displays each suit on a hand-carved pigeon mannequin as a reminder that the animals we most revile are often the ones capable of surviving in a human-made environment.
The Singing & the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art, 2014
Hope uses humor to address the serious subject of species extinction in her Biodiversity Reclamation Suits. These suits allow common rock pigeons to masquerade as extinct North American birds -- if not actually to "reclaim" biodiversity, then at least to give the appearance of it. One can't help but smile, imagining these birds clad in their bright, borrowed feathers roaming our city streets, even as we note that the damage we do to our environment cannot always be undone.
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
Topic:
Animal\bird\pigeon  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Copyright:
© 2008, Laurel Roth Hope
Object number:
2013.76.1A-B
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Renwick Gallery
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk74b1f80a5-4808-4648-9d31-4b8a09e8fa44
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_2013.76.1A-B