MccGwire lives on Dutch barge moored on an island on the Thames, which is where she first had the idea of working with feathers.
‘I started to collect, arrange and layer the feathers and I quickly realised that to make anything out of them, I would need thousands’
MccGwire started to contact gamekeepers and pigeon fanciers all over the country, asking for feather donations. Once received they are washed and meticulously organised into colour coded boxes.
‘You have to be organised to work on a boat’, ‘or you would be in a sea of pigeon’
MccGwire is quite vague about her process after this point, not wanting to ruin the mystery behind the works.
The end result of her collecting and organising is more serpent-like than birdlike. The plumes are transformed into undulating waves that spill from crevices in walls of abandoned buildings, and her cabinet works are scaley organic creatures, mesmerising and ominous behind glass.
Head to her website to see more.
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