Projects - Ghost Town (2014-2016)

Projects | Ghost Town | Guidelines | Sites | Map | Participants | Publicity | Artist's Projects | Comments |
Sanctuary Suite | Gunnison Island Images | About the Artist | Gunnison Island QR Code | Newsletter

Photography: Marden Pond
by Marden Pond


BIRD-HAUNTED – FRENZIED ACCOMPANIMENTS
In his Inland Sea accounts, Alfred Lambourne frequently comments on the huge populations of birds that inhabit "his" island. He refers to the "bird-haunted rocks" (Inland Sea, p. 48) where "the birds, however, live a life of unrestraint...in a swift, unwearied flight." (pp. 65-67) He also comments on the "crowds of screaming sea-fowl," "pelican, heron, [seagull, raven, and crow]" and "broad-winged birds [which] are congregated by the scores and hundreds." (pp. 99-102) His annoyance with the winged throngs is emphatic: "Bird-voices grow monotonous. I am berated from morning to night. The gulls scream defiance. In every nook and corner of this disputed island, go where I will, the untired birds greet my presence with cries of resentment. Not content with this, they await not my coming, but come themselves to my very door. There they utter their querulous and insulting notes...Truly the island belongs to the gulls by right of inheritance." The cantankerous birds screech "with an intensity of sound as from a soul in pain..." (pp. 99-102) Actual raven, seagull, and pelican voices are heard in this musical "frenzied accompaniment."
PREVIOUS | NEXT