These racing pigeons, illustrated by Gawie Joubert a South African artist living and working in Johannesburg, were part of Menagerie, an exhibition at In Toto Gallery, celebrating the breathing beings that share Planet Earth with us.
In this work Gawie investigated the complicated and sometimes intricate relationships between humans and their surroundings, focusing on captivity.
He said, “Historically pigeons have been brought into the cities for racing purposes but – as prisoners so often do – the pigeons escaped, transforming the world’s cityscapes into their new habitat. Each piece is inspired and subsequently named after well-known prison escapes, like Alfred Hinds and the Texas Seven”.
Gawie worked in ink for these illustrations, ironically a material that is itself derived from the animal kingdom, has he enjoys exploring both the permanence and the serendipity of the medium.
