Artist Project / Zugunruhe
The migratory imperative
Rachel Berwick
An artist who has consistently probed the relationships between nature and culture, Rachel Berwick draws on a range of allied disciplines—from the biological sciences to anthropology and history—to examine the ways in which animals function as both objects and subjects of human inquiry. Her projects have considered the fates of extinct species such as the Tasmanian tiger and the passenger pigeon; the rediscovery of the “living fossil” fish, the coelacanth; and the status of Lonesome George, the last living Pinta Island tortoise in the world. For her project Zugunruhe, the artist turns her attention to one of the central mysteries of avian migration.
Berwick would like to thank Jenny Chan/Jack Design for her assistance on the design of the project presented here.
Rachel Berwick is an artist based in Killingworth, Connecticut. She received her MFA from Yale School of Art and is represented by Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York. Her work on the Zugunruhe project began during a Smithsonian Artists Research Fellowship in 2008, culminating in a two-part installation at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University in 2009–2010. She is currently working on a related installation (working title Blue) for a solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. For more information, see rachelberwick.com.