Leila Jeffreys

ISSUE 106 | Leila Jeffreys

Introduction:

For our 106th issue, Photo London is delighted to feature Leila Jeffreys, an Australian-based bird portrait artist and photographer.

Best known for her captivating images of birds from Australia and around the world that explore and subvert the traditions of portraiture, Jeffreys’ avian subjects are photographed at human scale with a startling attention to colour, line, form, and composition.

This issue showcases works from her latest series The wound is the place where the light enters – Jeffreys’ response to the devastating bushfires which ravaged the east coast of Australia over the summer of 2019–2020.

Interview with Leila Jeffreys

For you birds are “both medium and message”. What led you to focus on birds?

It’s true - my work focuses exclusively on birds. It used to be photographic portraiture of individual birds but has since branched out into couples, groups and now also includes video and installation art. Birds are both my muse and my subject: I use them as a representation of nature.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) in Perth, I moved to Sydney to study photography at a technical college. When I graduated, I thought I'd try portrait photography, but found that working with people as my subject was not for me. I was usually very anxious on set; the responsibility of taking a picture that the client was happy with was just too much pressure, and I never wanted to charge anybody for the result. So I took a side-step and started working as a photo editor in the last era when printed magazines were thriving.

My childhood was spent in nature, and yet I was drawn to the big cities (London, Sydney) in my 20s. However, when I reached my 30s, I developed an insatiable desire to re-connect with nature. I was busy, commuting and working in an office environment (no natural light) and I felt like there was a huge hole in my heart. In stepped backyard bird-watching to fill that hole and it became an important connection to nature for me. Birds offer a window into wildlife for us in the cities, because they are one of the last creatures that exist in urban areas. From a backyard bird watcher, I became a more serious bird watcher and started volunteering with ornithologists.

I was bird watching on Christmas Island in 2008 when I had my ‘light-bulb moment’. I was looking at birds through binoculars and thinking: ‘they are so ridiculously beautiful, why can’t everyone see how beautiful they are?’ That’s when I thought - ‘I’m going to try to take portraits of them, photographing them how I was taught to take studio portraits of people’. I never imagined anyone would see my photographs as it was a personal project. Then when people saw my photographs on the wall of my house, those same friends encouraged me to develop the idea into a series. One friend who was really interested showed them to some galleries and it took off from there. So I was very fortunate to have the right support early on.

Over a decade later, I have moved into more of an artist/activist role, where my process is driven by my desire to connect people with nature and wildlife in a positive and inspiring way. By capturing what lights me up, I hope to ignite the same spark in other people.

In the introduction to your book Birdland, you note that you chose to photograph birds without the natural backdrop that normally shields them. What do you hope that people will take away with them after viewing birds like this?

Birds are small, they flitter around, and life is busy, so many of us don’t notice their extraordinary beauty. The initial concept was to print them at human scale and focus on the essence of each bird so that it stops people in their tracks. In the simplest terms: I want everyone to see what I see.

People tell me they have gone from being blind to birds around them to really ‘seeing them.’ And from there, they have developed a real interest in the birds that share their gardens, neighbourhoods, and beyond, which is incredibly heartening.

I’m also trying to get people to have similar experiences of what we all feel when we’re in nature, but through art – to still the mind.

Over the past few years, my work has become more conceptual. The fires that tore through the east coast of Australia in the summer of 2019 had a profound impact on me. I found myself turning inward to process the immense grief. Having been so intimately engaged with birds, knowing that so many millions of animals were killed or injured, including birds and people, was shattering.

I began dreaming up a new mythology, one in which living creatures develop mental wounds that appear as physical markings. I conceived ‘The wound is the place where the light enters’ as a series presenting birds with markings that appear to the human eye as wounds. The title The wound is the place where the light enters, is a line from a Rumi poem which speaks to the fact that pain reveals and helps us cherish what truly matters. We can only mourn what we deeply love. These birds – which I feature in portraits, on branches and bonsai - have natural red markings; they appear to bleed, as if their bodies are manifesting the collective pain that is felt by this planet. Yet at the same time, they embrace their wounds with a spirit of openness and beauty.

Moments of intense personal pain have shown me, time and time again, that our wounds can actually be gifts in disguise. Wellbeing and personal growth from facing and healing from what hurts us the most, bring us to a peaceful place. From there we radiate kindness, generosity, and compassion, bravery and humour, all attributes that can ripple out, and make the world better.

As I reconnect to nature, I’ve seen how it quietens the mind, how I feel connected to the earth and the animals, and how there is a deep sense of happiness and love that comes not from thought but from simply observing and being in the present moment. All my creative ideas form when I am in that state—never from forcing myself to think creatively.

Your work connects with a wide audience. Why do you think that is the case?

One thing I will say is that I love when people come up with stories and put personalities onto the work. It’s humour, and humour is one of the most beautiful attributes of being human. Some people get worried about anthropomorphism, but I think people are smart enough to hold two concepts at once—and also, why wouldn’t other animals have similar characters and feelings as us? We share common evolutionary ancestors. Sometimes people nail it. I’ve had someone walk into a room and name an Australian Prime Minister to go with each bird. At the same time, the person knows that they are a different species that has evolved in a particular way.

Birds have an extraordinary capacity for expression. Cockatoos are probably the easiest birds to read—their portraiture shows the essence of their character. Cockatoos are very playful, so you will see cheekiness, but you will also see shyness in their body language.

Overall, my aim is to highlight the kinship that exists between the human and non-human. I believe that photography can illuminate all the ways in which we depend on each other and inspire positive change.

Biography

Leila Jeffreys (born 1972, Papua New Guinea) is an Australian photographic
and video artist. who lives in Sydney, Australia.

She is best known for captivating images of birds from Australia and around the world that explore and subvert the traditions of portraiture. Her avian subjects are photographed at human scale with a startling attention to colour, line, form, and composition. For Jeffreys, birds are both medium and message. Her practice asks critical questions about anthropomorphism while highlighting the connection between humans and other animals, the sense of interdependence between all living species, and the profound refuge nature provides in a frantic world.

Increasingly, Jeffreys’ work as an artist is inextricable from her concerns as an environmentalist. Her images are the result of years-long periods of research, exploration, and investigation. The artist collaborates with conservationists, ornithologists, and sanctuaries around the world to find her subjects before forging an intimate relationship with the birds that she photographs.

With her most recent series, The wound is the place where the light enters—a response to the devastating bushfires that ravaged the east coast of Australia over the summer of 2019–2020—Jeffreys continues to combine portraits with more conceptual compositions. This time, she dreams up a new mythology, one in which living creatures develop mental wounds that appear as physical markings. The birds—in portraits, on branches, and on bonsai—have natural red markings; they appear to bleed, as if their bodies are manifesting the collective pain felt by this planet. Yet at the same time, they embrace their wounds with a spirit of openness and beauty.

In 2015, Jeffreys published the award-winning book Birdland through Hachette in Australia and New Zealand, released as Bird Love through Abrams Books in North America and the United Kingdom. Her more recent book, Des Oiseaux – Leila Jeffreys, was published by Atelier EXB / Éditions Xavier Barral in 2020.

Leila Jeffreys is represented by Purdy Hicks Gallery, London and Olsen Gallery, Sydney .© Leila Jeffreys 2023. All works and content copyright Leila Jeffreys. All rights reserved.