Sally Blake's project to draw all the world's owl species

Owl Project

I am currently working on a project to draw all of the world’s owl species, about 250 in total. They will all be exhibited together at Belco Arts in August 2023 as Wise Parliament. I imagine their forward- facing eyes staring at the viewer. Nature staring back at humankind, questioning our decisions that put the natural world at risk. Owls inhabit every continent except Antarctica, meaning their long-term survival is critical to every country on earth. Some are threatened, vulnerable and extinct particularly due to habitat loss and the use of poisons for rodent control, highlighting the results of human-induced ecological damage. In Australia all owl species are listed as ‘not in danger’, but at the state level many are threatened. Their collective noun, parliament, offers an alternative to our human ones.

Owls’ multi-cultural symbolic significances around death, regeneration and wisdom generate potent matters for artistic research and response. Wisdom seems particularly meaningful as this is what humans need to address climate change and other ecological crises.

Please be in touch if you have knowledge from your own country about the mythic or symbolic stories of owls.

All of the drawings are made with ink, pen and pinpricks on paper