Bird watching - Paula McCartney

The birds McCartney portrays in her beautiful photographs are artificial craft store birds that the author has carefully placed in the landscape. At first glance, they look real, but upon closer examination, the reader can see that the birds are synthetic. Like many artists throughout history, McCartney creates fictions at will, using birds as symbolic, beautiful elements within a controlled composition. The book uses the format of a field guide to explore our complicated relationship to nature and our need to control it, but it is also just a wonderful collection of the author's whimsical recordings of fake birds in a paradisiac landscape and her sense of humor shines through on every page. Two essays by Karen Irvine and Darius Himes put McCartney's work in context. The book is beautifully produced and will be treasured by birdwatchers and art-lovers alike.