Ink on Grass Paper
250mm x 485mm
with Christie Swallow
Design Museum, UK
“Paracologies invites you to convene with parakeets, a species of bright green bird that roost in the manicured parks of London. Through walking, stitching, and interspecies worldbuilding, the research asks you to move beyond an outdated idea of what is native (and therefore natural) - and asks you to question who gets to belong in the artificial ecologies of transplanted urban nature.”
The Probable Results of the Paracologists reimagines a satirical cartoon from an 1865 edition of Punch Magazine that mocked a Victorian initiative to introduce animals from across the British Empire into London’s parks. The subtext is clear; the colonised subjects (human and non-human) do not belong in the imperial metropole and its apparent civilization. The drawing flips this understanding, illustrating how we share our city with Pigeons, Otters, Pelicans, Geese and Parakeets in paracological entanglements.
Christie Swallow
The Probable Results of the Paracologists reimagines a satirical cartoon from an 1865 edition of Punch Magazine that mocked a Victorian initiative to introduce animals from across the British Empire into London’s parks. The subtext is clear; the colonised subjects (human and non-human) do not belong in the imperial metropole and its apparent civilization. The drawing flips this understanding, illustrating how we share our city with Pigeons, Otters, Pelicans, Geese and Parakeets in paracological entanglements.
Collaborators and Credits
Christie Swallow
Photos - Rob Harris
Christie Swallow
Photos - Rob Harris