I am interested in th e way that living things exist in and move through the natural world. For me, drawing has always been a means of articulating the patterns and cycles present in the surrounding environment, as well as a way of exploring (and attempting to understand) my own place in them. Short-tailed shearwaters are migratory seabirds. They make the 15,000 km transequatorial journey from the Aleutian Islands in the north (near Alaska, where the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet) to southeastern Australia each year. They have been known to cover this distance in just six weeks, and usually arrive on our shores from late September to breed. Not all birds make the round journey safely. Many die of starvation or exhaustion during migration, usually due to poor feeding conditions (prior to departure from the north, or upon arrival in the south), or strong winds and storms at sea. Their carcasses wash up along the coastline in large numbers - a phenomenon that is known as a wreck. In the past, it was normal for these wrecks to occur once every ten years. However they have become more frequent in recent times, and it is not uncommon to find major wrecks along the east coast of Australia every two years or so. It is a worrying trend that points to a much larger environmental problem. The works in this exhibition are the result of an encounter with a wreck of short-tailed shearwaters on the north coast of New South Wales in late 2013.

Leith Maguire

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