The Forgotten Song of the Regent Honeyeater handmade book was inspired by a news report about this critically endangered bird from Australia.
Young Regent Honeyeater songbirds learn their song from adult males. The song is used to attract females. A loss of habitat and a decline in numbers has meant there are fewer males passing on the song, leading the younger birds to pick up tunes from other species. The females are less likely to pair and nest with unfamiliar songbirds, causing an even greater decline for these beautiful songbirds.
Conservationists are playing recordings of their song to captive Regent Honeyeaters, hoping that they will re-learn their song and, on release, will sing, repeat, survive and thrive.
The eight books were made by stretching a large sheet of cartridge paper on a board, then painting decorative images of the birds in ink on one side. Once dry, I used ink and pen on the reverse, decorating with leaf, branch and stave motifs. After researching the story online, I wrote a poem about the story, which I printed on newsprint and glued into the 8 concertina books.
