I Swear by the Swan

These silkscreens titled I Swear by the Swan  explore the book “Bird Gods” written in 1898 in which the American linguist and poet Charles DeKay (1848-1935) presents the idea that celestial creatures have not been responsible for the wakening of religious ideas. He claimed that it has been animals around us who had been the root of religion. In each chapter of the book, he presents a bird with the god that it has represented in religion.

 

In the preface of the book, the author states:

[...] recollection of what our ancestors thought of birds and beasts, of how at one time they prized and idealized them, may induce in us, their descendants, some shame at the extermination to which we are consigning these lovable but helpless creatures, for temporary gains or sheer brutal love of slaughter. The sordid men who swept from North America the buffalo, the gentlemen who brag of moose and elephants slain, the ladies who demand birds for their hats and will not be denied, the boys who torture poor feathered singers and destroy their nests, are more ruthless than the primeval barbarians. [...] The marvellous tale of the share birds have had in the making of myth, religion, poetry and legend may do somewhat to soften these flinty hearts and induce men to establish and carry out laws to protect especially the birds.

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Claiming that, regardless of our beliefs have, humans share the belief in nature. He finishes with a call of action to not destroy the planet without reason.

 

The image itself is an engraving done in 1649 by artist Claude Mellan who carved a single line into a metal plate.