Empty Nest Collective

COLLECTIVE MANIFESTO:

Empty Nests explores the fragile balance of our environment, the disappearance of native birds, and how colonisation continues to shape Country. We draw inspiration from artists who tell stories of land, animals, and memory. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers gather grasses from Country and weave them into animals and birds, which is a practice that keeps culture alive and shows the deep ties between people and land. Our nests share this language of weaving, holding memory and story. Janet Laurence’s works Requiem (2020) and Birdsong (2006/2019) bring forward the silence and absence left by environmental damage. We see the same silence in our empty nests. Concerned Artists Resisting Extinction (CARE) work together to highlight Australia’s biodiversity crisis, showing us how art can also be a protest. These artists inspire us to pay attention and notice what has gone, what can return, and how we might care better for creatures of the sky, land, and waters.

While Australia has upwards of 450 native bird species, due to the introduction of feral species (the majority coming from Europe) such as pigeons, starlings and sparrows and the continued urbanisation of the City of Melbourne, many native birds suffer displacement, leading to significant population decline across the state of Victoria. The Carlton Gardens has been populated with artificial bodies of water and exotic flora and has since become overrun by introduced species. 60 recorded native bird species have been lost from the area as a consequence. Empty Nests’ response to this environmental crisis is installing 60 hand-woven bird nests made from plant material to represent the loss of native species and promote native habitation, creating homes for birds that are unable to compete with the introduced species.

When gathering materials for our nests, we collected leaves, branches, bark, twigs, and grasses from the Fitzroy Gardens as well as from local gardens across Melbourne and the Geelong region. The ephemeral nature of our medium showcases the dwindling ecological balance of the Australian biosphere within a postcolonial context; nests of various levels of ‘aliveness’ symbolise a gradual decline in cultural symbiosis. By using native plants, we aim to reflect the natural habitats in which these birds thrive and to honour the enduring connection of Indigenous cultures, past and present, to the land. Some of the materials we worked with were native to Australia, such as gum leaves (Corymbia maculata) and wattle. However, like birds themselves, we also made use of what was available, incorporating European-introduced species. Twigs, vines, and branches provided a sturdy framework for the nest, while leaves and grasses filled the gaps, creating a welcoming space for birds to rest. This interplay of native and introduced species became a metaphor for a history in which Indigenous peoples have been forced to struggle at the hands of introduced European culture. Unable to rid themselves of it, they must find ways to work in spite of it. At times, unfortunately, having to use what has been introduced in combination to what is native. Thus an allegory to the native bird species, often not having access to fully native plants, they work with what has been introduced for survival. Our intentional application of native plants, thus, is to insert the idea that we are slowly working towards a more Indigenous Australia, in which step-by-step we can make a change.

Much of our technique has been informed by the exploration of basket weaving. However, as we became more confident in our craft, our weaving styles allowed for uninhibited exploration and freedom. Some decided to loop thick twigs around each other and proceeded to weave smaller plants through the circles created. Others used a softer plant material to be braided together, forming the base of the nest, then built upon with thicker materials. The weaving process thus became intuitive, as we began to experience for ourselves the scrounging and unpredictability of what materials could be found to produce our nests like our studied birds.

Empty Nests aims to honour and promote efforts to:

1. Restore the biodiversity of local native bird species

2. Acknowledge that the land belongs to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, the animals and the plants as it once did years ago

3. Recognise that members of the collective descend from colonial and immigrant lineage, but wish to stand in support of First Nations peoples' rights to land ownership

We do so in hope and pursuit of a solution to the absence of Barrawarn (magpie), Yan-Guk (pronounced as 'Djangkang’, wattle bird), Dhurrorrong (kookaburra), Ngayuk and Yanggai (white and black cockatoo) and many more creatures endemic to the Kulin Nation.