Laughing Kookaburra Data
Sculpture By The Sea
16.10.26 - 02.11.26

Laughing Kookaburra Data draws inspiration from the Laughing Kookaburra bird, a familiar presence in the coastal suburbs of Sydney, including Bondi and the wider Waverley area. Well adapted to urban environments, the species thrives among remnant eucalyptus trees and established domestic gardens that provide both food and shelter. Recognisable by its white head and underbelly, brown eye stripe and richly toned wings occasionally marked with flashes of blue, the kookaburra is most widely known for its iconic “laugh” a resonant territorial call used to assert presence and ward off rivals.

This work emerges through a process of digital observation. By repeatedly zooming in and out of photographic images of the bird, its form becomes abstracted dissolving into pixels and colour fields. Constructed from layered, painted aluminium and placed onto a perch Laughing Kookaburra Data occupies a space between the digital and the physical. The work explores the tension and interplay between mediated and lived experience, reflecting on how encounters with nature are increasingly filtered through screens. In doing so, it gestures toward a broader interconnectedness between humans and the natural world, while acknowledging the fragility of this relationship within a rapidly shifting environment.