The Original Birds

Forgotten Songs by Michael Thomas Hills.  Originally commissioned by the City of Sydney in 2009 as a temporary installation,
this beloved work was reinstalled as a permanent work of public art in 2012.

Not too long ago, the sprawling city of Sydney, Australia was a lush forest, home to abundant wildlife.  While we enjoy the urban pleasures of this splendid and powerful city, we typically forget to ask: what happened to the birds and animals that once lived here, right here, where now there is a cafe, bookstore, international bank, government office, or Prada store?  Where are they now?

Forgotten Songs hovers over a cafe in
Angel Alley, in the heart of downtown Sydney.

Michael Thomas Hills' marvelous artwork, Forgotten Songs, reminds us to wonder -- literally, because this work summons a sense of wonder.  One of my favorite works commissioned by the City of Sydney's vigorous public art program, Hills' multimedia installation takes full advantage of its site:  one of the tight little lanes that crisscross Sydney's downtown. These vital small spaces are hidden behind grand 19th century buildings with ornate facades of granite and sandstone, and their intimate scale makes it possible for artists to work magical acts of transformation.  Rounding a corner, we look up at a swarm of old fashioned birdcages; where once there were perches on mighty tree branches, now there are hundreds of empty cages miraculously suspended in empty space.

Forgotten Songs spans the width of its narrow site.  A shaft of sun reaches into this shadowed canyon at certain times of day, bringing the play of light across the birdcages that hang in a ghostly cloud.  At first, Forgotten Songs is simply delightful.  But we realize that we have been transported into an avian ghost town, a post-apocalyptic world. All the birds are gone, they've flown the coop.  Perhaps they held on as long as they could as wild birds, and then were preserved briefly as pets or specimens, but now they have vanished entirely.  Thanks to an audio component, if we listen carefully we can detect an echo of their presence woven through the hubub of city noise.  Hidden speakers play the sounds of 50 species that once called, romanced, alarmed, and scolded in this space.

Each suspended cage is unique and suggestive of individual character -- in the same way a carved tombstone is, somewhere between mass produced and hand-crafted.  Having worked for 10 years in a Victorian cemetery, I recognize a kinship, even though Forgotten Songs is as light as air.  Both feature a massing of delicate, but enduring, objects, scaled to fit the body and designed to comfort through domestic analogy; individuals come together to form a grand memorial landscape bigger than any single life story.  As memorials, both preserve memory, evoke the past, and spur thoughts of the inevitability of change and ephemerality of life.  

"Habitat loss is credited as the biggest threat to bird survival. At present there are 129 species of birds native to New South Wales formally listed as extinct or threatened with extinction."
                                      – from Forgotten Songs, City of Sydney website 

Forgotten Songs commemorates more than the mortality shared by all living creatures.  It reminds us of our culpability.  We humans displaced almost all Sydney's birds to create our own habitat, a new world which leaves no spaces for wild creatures.  These creatures once brought vitality -- color, movement and song -- to our lives.  The grim truth is that we are eliminating birds and other animals all over the world, at an incredible, seemingly unstoppable pace.  Forgotten Songs creates a space to contemplate this tragedy and, hopefully, gain resolve to fight it.

To create the audio component,  Hills collaborated with a scientist, Dr. Richard Major.  The research that went into selecting which diurnal and nocturnal birds to include (based on local ecology and historic museum collections) is a story in itself, and can be found along with a list of all the birds and a link to some field recordings of their songs on the City of Sydney's website for this artwork.

More Information

Artist's Statement 

"An interplay of past and present, large and small, predator and prey, Forgotten Songs engages audiences with the beauty, unexpectedness and unfamiliarity of these displaced birdsongs. The installation explores how Sydney’s fauna has evolved and adapted to co-exist with increased urbanisation – inviting contemplation of the city’s past, its underlying landscape, and the sustainability issues associated with increased urban development."

– Michael Thomas Hill, 2009

City of Sydney Guide to Public Art -- Entry for Forgotten Songs