A new thought-provoking exhibit is available to view at the University of New Brunswick’s Art Centre in Fredericton.
This exhibit contains 400 works in total and focuses on the relationship between nature and technology. Each work uses repurposed and upcycled materials, along with worn-out objects and old artwork to create 3-D sculptures of birds with mechanical parts.
The Avian Cyborgs exhibit by Terry Graff will run from Sept. 20 to Dec. 6.
Graff references George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, noting how both their works make societal commentary through animals.
“Through the Avian Cyborgs I can comment on the multiple crises that we’re facing today, ecological, environmental, political, social and even the pandemic,” said Graff.
Graff was formerly the Beaverbrook Art Gallery director and curator, going on to teach at Mount Allison University and UNB.
UNB is the final destination of a national tour for the Avian Cyborgs. Graff said it felt like a full-circle moment considering the community he has found while making and teaching art at UNB.
Also featured in the exhibit is the Pandemic Horror Series which consists of paintings depicting COVID-19 pandemic imagery combined with nature.
“When I first heard that word … I thought they said CROW-VID-19. So the first work I made in the pandemic series was the crow wearing a mask with 19 written on it,” Graff said.
Having grown up in an area with lots of birds around, Graff always had an appreciation for them, as well as an appreciation of machines and their aesthetics. Growing up watching the progression of technology, Graff said he has also noticed how reliant humans have become on technology to live.
“I’ve just continued that use of the fusion of birds and machines to figure out how I feel about life and what’s going on in the world,” he said.
Born in Ontario, Graff discovered a passion for art at a young age.
“I remember discovering the colour turquoise accidentally by mixing blue and green at five years old and it was a eureka moment,” he said.
When Graff was six, he further nurtured his artistic talents when he won a drawing contest.
Growing up in a supportive family who kept all of his childhood work, he went on to join his mother in a drawing class at the YMCA for adults where he learned the foundations of the craft.
“I think your inner child is so important for making art and learning about the world,” he said.
Graff believes it important for students in particular to see the creations.
“You want to be open to the world and open to ideas,” he said. “To develop an interest in many things and experiment and see what the world is about and see what your vision or what your perception of things are.”
He emphasized the importance of individual interpretation of art.
“I want people to reflect on how they see things, this is how the world feels to me.”
