Faculty member Annette Barbier‘s solo exhibition Casualties opens this Friday August 22 at the Chicago Artists’ Coalition, where she is currently a BOLT resident. There will be a reception this friday from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m, and the exhibition will run from August 11 – September 11.

 Barbier creates immersive, rich, sensory environments designed to enhance the viewer’s awareness of the natural world and question how culture shapes our understanding and treatment of nature.

Casualties explores the tension between the built environment and the marginalized place of nature in our urban spaces as seen through the plight of urban birds. The lives and deaths of these animals illustrate the neglect and violence the natural world suffers at human hands.

Casualties is a series of experiences; these interactive works invite the viewer to explore aspects of the life of urban birds, from those dead through collisions with windows to the nervous responses of artificial pigeons. These encounters, evoking by turns, delight, surprise, and discomfort, are meant to spark a shift in consciousness, questioning the way we interact with nature in urban environments.