Suzanne Husky – Les oiseaux semant la vie, 2022

Suzanne Husky’s training in the fine arts, horticultural landscaping, permaculture and herbalism, has led to a multi-faceted artistic practice, encompassing drawing, ceramics, tapestry, sculpture, performance, video and photography, through which she addresses the issue of human impact on the environment. By observing the different ways in which humans have been exploiting and destroying natural resources, Husky imagines possible new forms of coexistence with living things, and invites us to “work with the earth” rather than against it.

Drawing on a variety of origin myths, ranging from the Egyptian myth of Bennu the heron who rose from the first dark waters, to the Alsatian legend of baby-carrying storks, the tapestry Les oiseaux semant la vie (“Birds Sowing Life”) illustrates the history of pedogenesis, the process of soil formation. Set against a brightly-coloured landscape dotted with wind turbines, the tapestry depicts the journey of birds carrying the seeds, spores and micro-organisms essential to ecosystems in their feathers and droppings. Through the migrations of these diverse creatures, she traces other possible relationships and bonds with the living world.