LOST SONG (Black), Articulate Project Space, 2022

Charcoal and graphite on walls, mp3 audio, approx. 15.5 m x 4 m

Lost Song: wall drawings in charcoal and graphite interpretating the song of the regent honeyeater, with audio, to highlight the near extinction of this species.

Murray and Burgess have been investigating aspects of the regent’s song, habitat, and culture, through association with Birdlife Australia, Taronga Zoo and Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, to help advertise the plight of the regents’ survival and prevention from extinction. The spectrographs were obtained from ANU scientists Ross Crates and Dan Appleby who provide Taronga Zoo with recordings to train captive birds which are released into selected favourable habitats.

Once widespread in large numbers from South Australia to Central Queensland, in a space of fifty years the numbers of regent honeyeater have plummeted to an estimated 300 individuals, bringing it to the verge of extinction. Unchecked land clearing of its box-ironbark habitat for grazing and firewood has been catastrophic for this woodland bird which travels great distances in flocks following the flowering of eucalypts. There are other adversities affecting the regent, such as fire and seasons of drought with no blossom, and predation from species particularly noisy minors and gliders. As well as these and loss of habitat there is its loss of culture. Now there are not enough male birds to teach the young males the mating call necessary to attract a mate and to continue the species – the song of the regent is being lost. Many now imitate the call of other birds, and its own learnt song has become simplified and abbreviated.

In the gallery, Lost Song, is the translation of spectrographs of recorded songs of the regent honeyeater, Anthochaera Phrygia, via a smart phone drawing app.

Murray and Burgess have recently won a CREATE NSW grant to commission music by composer Felicity Wilcox, Call and Response, to be played in their installation at Blue Mountains Culture Centre Katoomba, December 2022- January 2023, for which this installation in the backroom is a trial run. The colours of the regent are grey, yellow, white and black.

Audio credit: Regent Honeyeater, Ross Crates XC661748. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/661748. CC Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

ARTICULATE PROJECT SPACE: BACKROOM 7-25 Sept 2022