Christine Fitzgerald. Captive. Limited Edition.
Print details
Platinotype (50% platinum 50% palladium)
Image Size: 16 x 20 inches
Paper Size: Approx. 18 x 22 inches
Paper: Hahnemühle uncoated 100% cotton rag
Edition size: 5 + 2 artist proofs (AP)
Edition of print: AP-1
The parrot: symbolic of our fascination with the exotic, and yet victim, too, of these preoccupations.
CAPTIVE reflects both the struggle and resilience of captive parrots. The work is a meditation on themes surrounding the often conflicted and tenuous relationship between humans and the natural world and our fascination with the commoditization of the exotic.
These beautiful and intelligent birds live in two worlds – the natural world that is hard-wired in their genome, and a human-constructed world in which they are imprisoned. They typically have survived multiple traumas. Many are removed from social flocks in their natural environment, and they are put in isolation in cages. They are frequently “relinquished” from one foster home to the next, often sold on social media. Others are trafficked illegally and bred for profit. With their incredible longevity, many parrots outlive their owners. They are remarkably clever, have brilliant colors, and their. extraordinary mimicry of speech has made them humanlike; thus, their immense popularity as pets. Nevertheless, at their core, they remain wild.
Christine Fitzgerald is a photo-based artist from Ottawa, Canada. Fitzgerald is a graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts in Ottawa, and Acadia and Dalhousie Universities. In 2020, her artwork was at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. as part of the featured exhibition, New Light: Canadian Women Artists. In 2023, Fitzgerald received the prestigious Karsh Award for her “outstanding body of work and significant contribution to the artistic discipline in a photo/lens-based medium.”
Follow Christine on Instagram @christinefitzgerald1.
