Birds of the DMZ
In late 2022 I learned that SAW CENTRE and the Korean Cultural Centre in Ottawa would be hosting an exhibition curated by the REAL DMZ PROJECT (RDP) of Seoul, South Korea. RDP is dedicated to an artistic examination of visible and invisible boundaries of the Korean Border Zone. Aware that the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is one of the rare places on Earth where humans have been extricated and nature has flourished, I proposed to travel to the DMZ and bear witness to the birds and then create an artwork for the Negotiating Borders exhibition.
The artwork I created immediately upon my return from my first trip in September was entitled Trace. It is a graphical listing of the 115 bird species seen during my first trip and a line indicating my birdwatching paths along the perimeter of the DMZ. The installation provided an alternate perspective of this hair-trigger border, one based in the natural beauty of the area rather than the state of constant military threat.
Important to the project was painting a watercolour image of each bird seen. I needed a way of showing just how beautiful and fragile these birds are. Indeed, I needed to show the viewer just how beautiful I think these birds are and how perfectly each is evolved to its niche in nature. Today, some of these birds – the Red-crowned Crane, the White-backed Woodpecker, and the Hill Pigeons – are dependent on the quiet and solitude provided by the DMZ for their very existence.
In 2025 Trace was exhibited in Paju, Korea and at the Bangkok Cultural Centre as part of the Undo Planet exhibition mounted by RDP.
Watercolour painting imparts a sense of immediacy and delicacy. The inherent vagaries of the medium also helps to inform on the perceptual challenges of birdwatching and memory.
Sketching birds in the field is enormously difficult as they refuse stay still for more than a few seconds. I did try however and managed a number.
I have enjoyed working with the Real DMZ Project and Birds Korea and look forward to working with them both again in the future.
The DMZ is a curious and intense place. The quiet that allows nature to flourish in the in-between belies an unresolved conflict. There is only an armistice between North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) and no peace treaty. Both sides take the DMZ very seriously and the tragedy and brutality of the Korean War remains raw and present along the border.