Maladaptive

There is much in the behavior of corvids which might remind us of ourselves. Lauded for their intelligence, ravens, crows, and magpies are so different in appearance, vocal range and behavior that it is hard to comprehend that they belong to the same avian order as their songbird cousins. Like humans, these birds have an extraordinary capacity for learning and problem-solving. Both humans and corvids have adopted flexible “generalist” survival strategies, expanding the range of environments open to our habitation. Crows and ravens have developed complicated hierarchical relationships reinforced by vocal communication (a repertoire of clicks, knocks, and caws). Young ravens like young children can be destructive, learning about their world by eating and/or shredding novel items in their environments1. Crows recognize each other as individuals and remember individual people as well2. Magpies recognize themselves in mirrors and will strain to remove stickers placed under their chins when they notice their appearance is amiss3. We find ourselves captivated by corvids, but are we charmed by the similarity? I once yelled at a raven that dropped an empty jar of peanut butter close to my head the winter that I lived in Anchorage, Alaska; I cannot imagine anyone cursing a finch.

Flight requires much from birds. They have evolved to be as lightweight as possible--so much so that the brains of long-distance migrants lack development in the area that processes novelty (they also have hollow bones, only one ovary, incredible respiratory adaptations for breathing at altitude, and they can sleep with half their brain and fly with the other half). Because most birds have limited tools for learning, they have difficulty coping with changes in the environments they pass through. As preferred habitats shift or shrink, the creatures that have evolved to perfectly inhabit these areas suffer. More adaptable species win in areas affected by climate change and habitat encroachment.

I intend this exhibit to be a meditation on harmony versus pragmatism as strategies for navigating an uncertain future. Please think of it as a fable told through people, ravens, and other birds. Imagery includes small portraits of actual songbirds found under windows, human/bird hybrids, and archetypal images inspired by ceramic history (how does one draw a ghost?). It is my hope that viewers are able to form their own narratives about the relationships of the actors in this open-ended story. I believe that an individual's personal experiences may find a metaphor in the experiences of nonhuman residents of the environments we share. I am interested in how ecological and personal collapse might mirror each other. I’ll leave it to viewers to look into themselves and decide how much of this work is about a physical landscape, how much an emotional one.

I am worried that, in the end, it will be just us and the ravens. Adaptable. Generalists.
I am worried that we are eliminating the other ways of being, in our environment and in ourselves.

—Megan Thomas, August 2020

1 Heinrich, B. (1999). Ravens in the Family. In ​Mind of the raven: An investigation into the mind of the raven​. New York: Cliff Street Books.

2 Heather N. Cornell, John M. Marzluff, & Shannon Pecoraro. (2012). Social learning spreads knowledge about dangerous humans among American crows. ​Proceedings: Biological Sciences, ​279(1728), 499.

3 Prior, H., Schwarz, A., & Gunturkun, O. (2011). Mirror-Induced Behavior in the Magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of Self-Recognition. ​Animal Behavior,​ 164-182. doi:10.1201/b13125-9