Jane Edden: Ornithomorph, London

Jane Edden: Ornithomorph, London

Running until 5 January Jane Edden’s Ornithomorph is built upon the artist’s fascination with the way animals are collected, classified and catalogued. She has adopted a scientific system of labelling and nomenclature. Featuring within the exhibition is Flying Jackets, which investigates our attitudes towards nature and the desire behind consuming natural materials. Each jacket is just the size of a humming bird and is created from hundreds of tiny feathers to produce a series that inhabits a hybrid space between avian and human. Linking back to the human attraction to natural materials, Edden also inspects the tribal, sacred use of feathers that is internationally recognised.

Another element is A Coat for Icarus, a film piece featuring a morphing feathered form that appears to contain a pulsating heart, synchronized to a soundtrack of a human heartbeat. As the heartbeat increases the jacket changes between a feathered form, a samurai costume and a flapping creature. When the heartbeat returns to a steady beat, the appearance transforms into what looks like internal organs beating and morphing. Meanwhile the Cor-vid Crow Target watches a bird pecking Sears and Roebuck crow targets with astonishing accuracy. It was after rescuing an injured bird that Edden noticed the bird’s interest in pecking at dots or any small unusual marks with a strange precision.
All of the feathers used in the exhibition are byproducts of food processing and would usually be thrown away. Edden creates meticulous constructions, inserting feathers into tiny drilled holes, overlapped in a bird-like way and capturing films that examine the movement of these creatures. Ornithomorph is a variety of works, collated together to provide insight into the activity of collecting animals.
Jane Edden: Ornithomorph, until 5 January, Flowers Gallery, 21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ.
Flowers Cork Street Christmas opening times are closed: Monday 24 – Wednesday 26 Dec, Monday 31 Dec – Tuesday 1 Jan
Credits
All images courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London.
1. Flying Jackets-Group-B, Jane Edden.
2. Crow Targets Cor-vid still, Jane Edden.
3. Installation time, Antonio Parente.