cyanotype on watercolor paper; paper 11×11″
“Albatrosses are magnificent birds, alive in the myth and folklore of seafaring cultures around the world. In reality, they are endangered, with most species teetering at the edge of extinction.
In recent years dead albatross chicks have been found on uninhabited islands, their stomachs filled with ocean plastic. Unknowing parent birds have mistaken our waste for their food and fed the juvenile birds, causing them to choke and starve. Even before they have learned to fly, human pollution has killed them. In Samuel Coleridge’s legendary poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ the albatross represents the beauty and innocence of creation. In the poem, the sailor who shoots an albatross, bears its corpse around its neck and is forever haunted by his actions.
It is a grave injustice that human actions bear such terrible consequences for the natural world. No creature should have to pay such a high price for our disregard. We are collectively responsible for the suffering of these remarkable creatures. We each have an albatross around our neck.”