Where the wild things are

The eye of a Rainbow trout can detect both UV and polarised light, while the Peregrine Falcon can spot its prey from a distance of 1.5km away. Standing within the curved structure of these animal’s landscapes, I can spot traces of UV paint twinkling off the Rainbow Trout and can make out a tiny bird of prey among the Peregrine’s panorama.

This is the work of Prue Sailor, a Natural History Illustration RHD student who has just submitted her thesis of Wild Visions: An Artistic Investigation Into Animal Vision. Her four years of scientific investigation and artistic representation was on display at the University Gallery earlier this month to showcase the optical diversity of seven different animal species.

The Peregrine Falcon, Tawny Frogmouth, Zebra Finch, Squirrel Monkey, Rainbow Trout, Australian Emperor Dragonfly and Veiled Chameleon are the seven subjects of her study.

Her exhibition is interactive and her artwork features curved habitat paintings to illustrate each animal’s unique view of their surroundings. The result is intriguing and brings a new element to the artwork, particularly when you know that the intricate detail is scientifically accurate.

Prue extracted most of her information from scientific journals but also spent days studying these animals in person. She travelled down to Sydney Zoo to see the cheeky Squirrel Monkey in action and out to Orange to watch the Peregrine Falcon stare her down through a telescopic lens.

The trout she collected from Nundle Trout Farm was positioned on chopsticks and stuffed with tissues so that she could arrange it into realistic life positions. The Tawny Frogmouth Prue surveyed from her friend’s rehabilitation avery even hopped onto her sketch book for a closer inspection.

All this detail has been captured in Prue’s artwork, right down to the hexagonal dots that cover the Dragonfly’s landscape.

After completing her undergraduate degree in Fine Art, Prue was encouraged to complete her Honours with Natural History Illustration and hasn’t looked back. Her investigation into animal visions was meant to form her Masters, but became big enough for a PhD.

She said it was the department passion and similar interests of everyone in the discipline that made her postgraduate study so enjoyable.

“We all have similar interests in drawing and conservation which makes it such a happy place to be.  The staff also encourage us to trust our own judgements which was really important for me to apply in my PhD,” said Prue.

Prue travelled to Italy last year to present a poster of her research at the Visual Science of Art Conference in Sardinia. She was able to look at the research going on in the field and noticed there was a lot of journalistic investigation into animal vision but not in a visual form, which is the key focus of her PhD.

Her exhibition will be shown at Taree Gallery next and Prue is in discussion with other regional galleries to hopefully showcase her amazing representation of the animals’ world through their own eyes. She is also currently teaching a few design courses in the enabling program.