Movement. The way we move, the ways in which we move and why we move like we do are tightly bound to our needs and the environments we live in. We as a species have developed many different ways of moving our bodies, to make things easier, faster and more fun and interesting.

Birds, just like us, move in a variety of different ways, in ways we can’t even imagine. And just like us they’ve developed certain ways of moving to satisfy their own needs determined by their lifestyles and habitats. The kingfisher fly’s fast and low to the river, darting for small fish, the buzzard fly’s far and high above the fields using its panoramic view to find small mammals, catching the thermals to keep it gliding and the swallow curves and swoops through open buildings at high speed snatching flies mid-air.

This work mimics some of these characteristic movements of different species in the form of one of those games that was part of every child’s section of a waiting room I can remember. Though recreating movements we can learn how other life moves.

We have focused on the species we regularly encounter in Tokyo and much of urban Japan this includes kingfisher, wagtail, black kite and swallow.