Sunday, October 19, 2008

I Made This for Us



If you look very carefully on the bridge, you can see the peregrine falcon I am trying to befriend.

In Tacoma, peregrine falcons have nested on the Murray Morgan Bridge and, more recently, on the cornices of many of the buildings that surround us, downtown. Our trash has become the diet of their prey (pigeons), and the falcons themselves have integrated seamlessly into our built environment, claiming it their own; concealing themselves, hunting, eating, breeding.The falcons circle us, but are not our pets. The falcons circle us, but I am not sure if they are wild or not. Are they pointing towards new ways for us to activate our own environment? Does their success justify our departure from the natural world? Do the tactics and devices of falconry offer us any solace or direction? In these images, I am attempting to lure a falcon closer by making exquisite (to me) falconry gear.