April 26, 2012
Si Murgh
This model was made with 1.0mm dark annealed steel wire and origami paper. The origami paper was folded into 30 birds, each a different color, and attached with thread to the steel arcs that I cut and molded into arc of various shapes and sizes. The thirty birds represent the thirty birds in the story by Farid ud-Din Attar, Conference of the Birds. In the story the birds journey to meet the Simurgh, their one true king, and along the way they encounter many hardships. Each bird doubts its capability to continue on the way, until at last, only 30 birds remain. Upon reaching their destination, the thirty birds find that the Simurgh is actually si murgh, meaning 30 birds in Persian. It is the journey that has transformed them to be the king they were searching for.
The birds on the mobile are simulated in flight, emphasizing the journey the birds undertook. They are light enough so that they interact with each other even in the slightest breeze, giving them the character they had in the story as birds that were constantly in conversation. I chose not to establish a clear Hoopoe on my mobile because I felt that at the end of the story, the differentiation between the birds no longer held the same meaning, and wanted to display them as variations of the same mold rather than highlight what sets them apart.