‘The Guardian’

Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 80x100x4cm, 2020. The Macaw was seen as a guardian associated with the direction of the south, as well as a symbol of summertime, fertility, and healing. Many of the tribes of Central and South America, they believe the macaw brings healing through colour and light because of its brilliant plumage. The northern subspecies of scarlet macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera) is now classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Scarlet macaws are large neotropical parrots native to Mexico, Central America and South America, with the greatest concentration of their population in the Amazon. Destruction of the birds’ habitat and collection for the pet trade have reduced the scarlet macaw’s range in Mexico and Central America. It is no longer found in most of its former range in those areas.