Sketch of a common ostrich (Struthio camelus)
Pencil, 2013
Tag: ratite
Encounter with Aepyornis maximus
A Madagasy man of the Bara type faces a bird which extinction is caused by his species: elephant birds, also known as vorompatras, belong to the biggest birds of Earth history and lived probably until the 17th century. Anyway this bird has an importance for the natives until today: the shells of the big eggs are collected and sold to tourists. The aborigine has a gusset hairstyle, which was still a distinctive feature between the different clans of Madagascar a hundred years ago. The hair gussets were often covered in a layer of wax.
Coloured pencil, 2016/17
59,5 x 42 cm
MoVo – Moderne Vogelbilder, 2017, Heineanum Halberstadt
South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) & Australasian pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), New Zealand
The moa were ratites in nine species in New Zealand, whereof Dinornis robustus was the biggest. They were hunted until extinction within 100 years by the ancestors of the Maori that migrated at the end of the 13th century.
Pencil, 2016/17
59,5 x 42 cm
Papuan and offensive cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)
Ink, 2014
70 x 50 cm
MoVo – Moderne Vogelbilder, 2015, Heineanum Halberstadt