Lynn Gerstmair

Tailfeathers of the Passenger Pigeon 

Lynn Gerstmair spent three days in the TextielLab completing her graduation project for the art academy in Halle an der Saale (Germany. This gave her a unique opportunity to use an industrial jacquard loom. She had previously made all her work on a hand loom. With product developer Lotte van Dijk, Gerstmair converted a photo into a woven tapestry measuring 170 by 230 cm.

The photo was one of several Gerstmair took in the Naumann Museum of stuffed extinct birds, which she covered with semi-transparent silk shrouds as a mark of respect. The tapestry shows an enlarged detail of the tail feathers of a passenger pigeon. Once one of the most common birds in the world, the bird was hunted to extinction by humans in the early 20th century. Gerstmair’s textile pays tribute to the beauty of this underrated bird. The linen and cotton mix is accented by shimmering silver lurex. From a distance the fabric appears to be black and white, but up close the 12 subtle colours used become visible.  

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