LUCY KOSHAN // What it’s like to be a bird

Installation Info

What it’s like to be a bird is a series of posters applied to a range of different public bulletin boards, telephone poles, etc. around the THIRD SHIFT festival grounds. Some posters are copies of paintings, while others present a hand-written text piece. There are six different posters in all.

The paintings presented on the posters depict different understated landmarks that result from a collision of the human/constructed world and the natural: a quarry rock, an invasive shrub. The texts are all ruminations about nature (mostly about birds!) that, in different ways, touch on a personal relationship to the natural environment. Altogether, what it’s like to be a bird is a sort of diary, obscured by metaphor, that is then made vulnerable again through public presentation. It touches on subjects of loss, longing, friendship, and queer love—lightly, noncommittally, then moves away again. 

Visitors can happen upon posters around festival grounds in the usual places that posters are found. A limited number will be available (for free) to take home, and can be found at the THIRD SHIFT info booth on North Market St. and at the Saint John Arts Centre.

Bio

Lucy Koshan (they/she) is a visual artist and gig gardener based in the Annapolis Valley. Centered on figurative painting and drawing, Lucy’s practice uses personal visual storytelling to investigate the process of defining and performing the self.