I’iwi / Mamo by Fernando Martí
Medium: relief print signed, on 100 lb. acid-free Bristol paper January 2024
Size: image size: 11″ x 14″
Artist statement:”This image was originally created for Protectors: Saving Biodiversity in the Age of Extinction, a portfolio organized by Roger Peet and the Center for Biological Diversity, celebrating those taking extraordinary measures to stop endangered species from vanishing forever. This is the original linocut print from which the three color screenprint was created. My piece focused on Hawaiian activist Ku’ulei Wong of the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project. The bird at top is the endangered red I’iwi bird, the subject of Ku’ulei Wong’s work, perched on a highlands ʻōhiʻa tree, also endangered. Reversed on the bottom is an image of the black and yellow Mamo bird, last seen at the tun of the last century. Both birds were used for royal and battle cloaks: it was kapu (forbidden) to kill them, and they were released back into the wild after feathers gathered. I loved this quote from the interview with Ku’ulei: “This planet has taught us incredible things, been there for our first steps, will be there for our last ones.”
Artist website: https://justseeds.org/artist/fernandomarti/
Image description: Black and white linocut image of Hawaiian endangered I’iwi bird at the top, upside-down extinct Mamo bird on the bottom, and at the center an image of Hawaiian researcher Ku’ulei Wong working in a forest.