Avian Scatoloty
Book project
Interesting Bird Poo
It’s as if Jackson Pollock were still alive and wandering the streets with a pot of white and blue paint splashing randomly as he goes. But the more you look the more you see. The splodges are ubiquitous and unremarkable but when you stop and look, really look, a pareidolic transformation begins rather like the forms we imagine in clouds or ink blots.
When processed, the images reveal colours and detail which are not obvious at first glance. A kind of alchemy happens revealing Neolithic, Giacometti or Frink like humans, aliens and mythical beasts of land, sea and air.
It is startling how people see such different things in these images and once you see something you can’t un-see it. But there are of course no wrong answers in this Rorschach like exercise. It’s a workout for the imagination. Perhaps bird poo should be taught in art colleges.
These forms in these images have not been manipulated and the detritus is shown as found. They are all taken in one London park but not for want of trying elsewhere. I have tried wetlands and leafy city parks with and without lakes but always come back to the same place. I don’t know why my park is best. Perhaps there is fruit. The people there think I’m mad.
Peter Searle
London 2025
