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19 February - 20 March 2026

praxis ARTSPACE

68-72 Gibson St Bowden SA

Empty Nest

Sometime ago I found a little baby bird on the footpath.


My response to seeing the whole of a life in the tiny, seemingly aged body of a baby bird was visceral. The little baby bird’s death filled me with great sadness and a sense of disquiet.


I recognised its foetal position, and its barely new crepe thin translucent skin.


I wanted to help it, nurture it, ‘mother’ it.


How much of my response was learnt versus ‘inherent’ I wonder? Where does it sit on the spectrum of ‘nature versus nurture’? Was my reaction innate, embedded perhaps, within me from birth, or a behaviour shaped by gender, upbringing, and life experiences.
Watching the endless parade of birds at home I became increasingly aware of how a bird’s mothering instinct parallels the journey of human mothering.


The intensity of the nest building – human nesting.


The demanding cries of the baby birds that cannot be ignored, like the inherent human baby cry – it still, after 20 years, produces a visceral response in me, that also can’t be ignored.


And the teenage birds performing dependence – their parents gradually reducing support in the face of ongoing pleading from their adolescents.


The nest is flown, the experience powerful for both those leaving, and those left behind, at whatever stage of life.


And what remains?


Remanents, shadows of a life lived, inherited belongings; memories, quietly insistent, though less confidently recalled; what to do with them?


An empty nest, and yet so full.

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