Amazing ways to see the world

 

Open and with kind orange-blazing eyes, Delphine looks at us. Her neck appears so graceful and colorful, shimmering in shades of blue, green and purple. Does she resemble a proud peacock? or a tropical fish, according to her name Delphine "born from the water"? Jill Tegan Doherty left the rest of her body undefined with edgy brushstrokes – shadowy in light blue, reminding us with a smile that her kind can be quite clumsy on the ground. 

 

At a distance, we observe them in fascination circling in perfect choreography along the rooftop. Barely reachable - as in the great flocks in Venice - but still so close, you imagine their wings have brushed you. What could they possibly be doing?

 

Her beauty transcends her alluring iridescence. The white dove brethren, is loved as it flies high into the sky in marriage ceremonies, symbolizing a bright new beginning. The small feathered creature holds high hopes in her wings, also freedom and peace, symbols verging on the divine.  Our private written letters attached to her dainty legs, we trust her dearly to deliver our messages across the sky. Yet, in daily life we seem to forget, referring to pigeons as 'flying rats,’ ‘vermin of the sky,' strategically placing sharp needles to disturb ‘them' from their favorite sleeping places.

 

Nothing is definite - nothing has only one side. We have to learn to deal with all of that. Just as we do when dealing with nature and people. 

 

The more suggestively painted bodies of the animals in contrast to their elaborately painted heads and necks run throughout the series.The clothing thus aesthetically and symbolically alters the otherwise delicately feathered animals. In the series "Ornamental Stature" from 2015, Jill Tegan Doherty fuses animals with the constraints often facing human beings. Delphine stands so boldly for her painted portrait like in the Victorian era - so perfectly shaped now for our possibly revised idea of nature’s aesthetics. Jill Tegan Doherty drapes her birds in fashion to expose us to this controversy, as well as to her unbridled flights of imagination.

 

Fashion can as well be an expression of how we perceive beauty in our cultures - but also of what rules fashion imposes on us. So, what happens when you see a dove in a beautiful tulle collar with pearl buttons? Do you remind yourself of our often too ignorant approach to nature? Our sometimes changing and ambivalent image of humans and creatures? Perhaps gazing at life through a silk feather dress changes our view. Can we preserve that beauty, if we just let our heart lead ? Fashion does not have to be uniform, it can make the most colourful birds out of all of us.