Twilight

This is the third in a series of prints incorporating two of my favorite things, split fountains and multitudes. This image is intended to evoke vultures circling overhead at dusk, but it could just as easily be any large carrion bird or bird or prey, as you like. I've been wanting to revisit the vulture as a subject as their ongoing horrific diminishment around the world has never stopped, and I think they represent something strong and interesting about our relationship with the natural world. If you're unaware, the cattle antibiotic diclofenac is lethal to vultures, and when they feed on dead cows that have been treated with it they die in droves. The cows remain uneaten and attract other scavengers (like wild dogs) that have less positive presences in the areas where this sort of thing is happening (mostly east and southeast Asia, although elsewhere as well). In some areas vultures are functionally extinct, with a near-infinite set of knock-on consequences for local ecologies. Here in the Pacific Northwest vultures are common and familiar, with a tilty dihedral flight and soft red heads suitable for scavenging. This print is to celebrate the work they do turning everything back into dust.