Parakeets are small colourful parrots that are not native to the UK; they have, however, now become naturalised in certain areas, predominantly London.

Goddard, who studied at Goldsmiths, London, and the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, carved each parakeet in clay before casting the finished objects in lead recycled from London roofs. The sculpted birds are a little larger than life size.

The artist’s focus on the non-native parakeet taps into current debates about migration and border control, as well as raising issues around climate change. An unsettling question mark hangs over the tragic fate of the birds in this piece.

Blue Sky Thinking now joins NMNI’s Ulster Museum, Belfast, which holds an internationally important collection of sculpture.

Provenance

Directly from the artist/Seventeen Gallery