Natural Selection
- Angus Fisher

Angus Fisher’s work investigates ideas of how the ‘natural’ world exists in human imagination and our ever-growing efforts to contain and control it. His imagery poignantly reflects upon European traditions of collecting, collating and subjugating nature, observed throughout his visits to many grand museums of Natural History that continue long-held traditions of taming and placating the ‘natural’ world.

Fisher has long been interested in the ancient art of falconry, and his series of drawings of this subject are informed by his experiences in France and Qatar throughout 2019; “I’m particularly fascinated in the accompanying pageantry and the paraphernalia that has developed in different, independent cultures around the handling and training of the birds. The birds exist in a symbiotic relationship with their handlers in a state of semi-freedom. The falconers utilise the bird’s natural instincts but shelter them from the wider ‘natural’ world. The ‘tack’ – hoods, gloves, jesses etc. exist as a potent reflection of this relationship.”

Other work in this exhibition investigates Australian subject matter, including his ‘Birds of New Holland’ works, which exist as a contemporary accompaniment to J.W. Lewin’s 1808 folio of the same name. Fisher’s hand-coloured etchings document the birds of the contemporary Greater Sydney region, and aims to develop Lewin’s vision of the Sydney area by providing a more mature, contemporary and holistic interpretation of ecology and the ‘natural’ world. No longer are birds simply ornaments of a wild and alien land, the natural domain and the domain of the human have become both literally and philosophically entangled.

Angus Fisher’s intricately detailed and vibrant artworks are testament to the breadth of the artist’s reverence for his subject matter and his deft technical skill across drawing and printmaking.