Collaboration: Leila Jeffreys x Melvin J. Montalban presented for Hermès.

Shake the Dust Off Your Wings was initially conceived as part sculpture, part video art. The film, featuring Gouldian and Zebra finches, captures the arrival and playful bathing of the birds. The swift movement of the finches, no more than the height of a lemon, was captured on a high-speed camera at 1000 frames per second. The work's sculptural form is a semi-circular pool atop a pedestal, evoking the shape of a bird bath. The reflective surface, a poured resin with a hand-formed stippled texture, reflects and refracts the slow motion imagery from the three displays mounted above. The music is played via induction speakers adhered to the inside surface of the pedestal, using its hollow form as the resonating chamber.  

Filmed at Taronga Zoo’s Living Classrooms, which were built especially to inspire and educate the next generation of conservation scientists, the work hopes to reveal the beauty of the critically endangered Gouldian finch and its cousin the Zebra finch. These birds have wildly different circumstances. The Gouldian Finch whose home is in tropical northern sub coastal areas of Australia, is critically endangered whereas the Zebra finch, one of our more common finches flourishes and is found in most parts of Australia. 

The work is Leila and Melvin's second collaboration, whose ongoing partnership aims to create art that quietens the mind. 

Bird Trainer Grey Fisher, Taronga Zoo
Builder Simon Ingerson, Yippee-Ki-Yay
Cinematographer Chris Bryan
Music Nick Wales
With support from City of Sydney, The Galeries, Taronga Zoo and Samsung

Shake the Dust Off Your Wings
Artists Leila Jeffreys x Melvin J. Montalban
3 channel video art, 4m 11s

In 2024 Shake the Dust Off Your Wings was presented in collaboration with Hermes in three locations around Australia