Johanna Thompson, Birds, 2018

Birds was inspired by Jim Goldberg’s Rich and Poor, a collection of photographs of rich and poor Americans, each with a handwritten statement by the subject, thereby creating a heart gripping portrait of the USA. It was a logical step to have an ornithologist (a fictional ornithologist) portrait birds in a similar way, for they have just as much to say about the human condition. If people would only listen.

“I have no idea what people think of me,
I don’t think much of them, that’s for sure.
Life is a bitch for everyone and I’m
struggling, just like everyone else.
Compassion is a mistake and the seed
for sloth and weakness.
And nobody ever offered to help me
out in any way, so why should I?
Egon, buzzard”