‘Adornment’ is inspired by the painting ‘Trompe -l’oeil’, a menagerie of exotic birds by Dutch 18th century artist Abraham Busschop, painted on the ceiling of Dordrecht Museum, one of the oldest art museums in the Netherlands. It depicts Aesop’s fable of the raven who steals other birds’ feathers to make himself prettier. Each feather is an individual detailed study, created with a wide variety of threads, and no two are the same. The original painting shows a range of birds, whose beautiful feathers were stolen by the raven. In my wing I incorporated studies of feathers from magpies, birds of paradise, crane, macaw, peacock etc but also designed my own patterned ones. Each feather is a meticulous study of intensive observation: shifts of colour, varieties of texture, movement, rhythm and hidden patterns.

The story behind Adornment is also about accepting yourself as you are, you don’t need to take someone else’s feathers to shine; your own uniqueness is enough. Adornment invites viewers to pause, tracing the link between perception and creation. It shows how close observation, combined with considered making, can transform fleeting natural beauty into something lasting, fragile, and full of meaning.

100 × 120cm

This piece was first shown at Collect 2025