Tundra Dunckley

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Group Catalogue Site

This body of work is an imagining of a future wasteland.

A future that has been pushed so far that the very humanity has become distorted in the process.

I began looking at ideas of health, the physical body, and death. Through trauma in my family and my own health no longer being guaranteed, I was forced to grapple with the reality of my own mortality. This led me on an exploration of concepts of the soul; how mythologically birds often played roles in dealing with the soul or in death and creation. The bird being a harbinger for the soul.

The imagery of the plague doctor, reflects that of the bird, whilst historically they were the ones who counted how many people died of the plague; a census of death.

A tall shepherd stands, his wing dragging along the ground. Below his feet, his flock of mismatched mayhem resides.

These creatures have aspects of their humanity left; however, their circumstances have morphed them to become something else.  The central large figure’s body is made up of geometric metal, speaking to the futuristic imagining of this creature. The nestling’s bodies are made of concrete and recycled rubber, this is the industrial nature of present humanity. This work is a whimsical noir take on a future where we are so afraid and so far beyond normality, that we do anything to survive.

Walking across a wasteland, the shepherd and his flock adorn their bodies with remnants of a previous age, stitching to themselves everything they find in order to weather the passing of time.