'Scratch' Sulphur crested cockatoo

Giclée print on archival fine art paper
112 x 89 cm / 44 x 35" Edition of 50 + 2 APs • 140 x 112 cm / 55 x 44" Edition of 6 + 2 APs • Series: Ornithurae
© Leila Jeffreys 2017

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Artwork Information

Bird Information

Where do you find the birds?

Leila works closely with wildlife carers, bird sanctuaries, and conservationists to ethically photograph birds. Many of her subjects are rescued or part of breeding programs. Each bird is photographed with care and respect in a quiet, calm environment.

How do you get the birds to stay still?

They don’t stay still. Patience, empathy, and trust are key. Leila creates a calm setting where the birds feel safe, allowing their natural presence to emerge. It takes enormous lengths of time.

Do you donate and support bird welfare?

Yes, Leila regularly donates to wildlife organisations and works in partnership with conservation groups. Supporting bird welfare is at the heart of her practice. Leila helps in the following ways: she has placed a covenant on family owned land in Western Australia to protect it from development; she has donated numerous artworks to be sold for fundraising, she pays charities directly for their time when working with their rescued birds, and she also donates monthly to two animal specific charities.

Series

Ornithurae

Ornithurae exhibited at Olsen Gruin Gallery in New York and opened by actress Brooke Shields, featured large-scale portraits of doves, pigeons and cockatoos, each rendered with the gravity typically reserved for human subjects. The exhibition reframed how we perceive these birds - particularly pigeons, while street pigeons are often dismissed, their rainforest relatives are visually spectacular and are cognitively remarkable. As Tim Low wrote in an essay for the exhibition,

“Psychologists take pigeons seriously… Domestic pigeons in experiments have distinguished letters of the alphabet, different emotions on human faces, paintings by Picasso and Monet, and even breast cancer tumours on scans. In one test, categorising coloured rectangles on a screen, pigeons left university students far behind. Brains wired to detect tiny seeds on gritty ground do well with a different kind of flat surface."

Jeffreys’ work urges us to reconsider the hierarchies we impose, inviting viewers into an encounter of dignity, recognition, and shared sentience.

by Neha Kale

LEILA JEFFREYS

Leila Jeffreys is a renowned contemporary artist working across photography, moving image and installation. She is best known for images of birds, photographed at human scale, that explore and subvert the conventions of portraiture. Jeffreys, who lives and works in Sydney with her husband and son, sees her avian subjects as living beings, part of a practice that expands viewer’s hearts by drawing attention to interdependence between species.

Jeffreys’ work is a result of years-long periods of research and exploration. In the tradition of artist-activists, she conducts fieldwork, collaborates with conservationists, ornithologists and sanctuaries and champions programs to protect and restore endangered habitats.

Nigel Lough / Travel & Luxury Magazine / News Ltd

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