Artist's statement: Meteor by Kathryn Cooper
In a flock of starlings, nature has evolved a system that is robust to predation; where many eyes look out for attack, and where risk is shared amongst the group. Remarkably, the group achieves this without any leadership structure, the simple interactions between individuals creating outcomes greater than the sum of their parts.
Witnessing so many birds moving with such cohesion evokes strong emotions and I wanted to explore what contributes to the essence of a murmuration. It is not the individual birds, nor a snapshot in time, but the fluid-like movement of the flock as a whole; the product of their interactions.
I create my images by combining multiple successive exposures. They are overlaid onto the same print to reveal motion and behaviour otherwise hidden. In the paths drawn by the starlings’ twists, spirals and bursts there is a rhythm; an imperfect repetition in the complexity, arising from the simplicity of their interactions. Nature has great ability as a problem solver, while at the same time, never fails to bring about something quite exquisite. - Kathryn Cooper