DEBORAH CARRUTHERS
  • Home
    • Artist Statement
    • Bio
  • Performances
    • Ecstacies of Influence - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre -Montréal - December 2018
    • slippages - The UBC Symphony Orchestra - Chan Centre - Vancouver - October 2018 >
      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
  • Exhibitions / Residencies
    • Recent Exhibitions ... Now You See Me... >
      • The Aura of the Already Said - Zygote Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio - 2019 >
        • The Aura of the Already Said: Exhibition - Press
      • Souvenir / Souvenir - Montréal, Québec 2017 >
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Press
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Essay ​Culte du Souvenir
        • Souvenir / Souvenir: About the Exhibition ...
        • About ​Safe Passage
        • About the Paintings ...
        • About the Photographs ...
        • About the Vitrines ...
        • Souvenir / Souvenir : Invitation card
      • Souvenir sacré - Opasatika - Hearst, Ontario 2016
    • Residencies ... Home Away from Home >
      • Ecstasies of Influence : matralab, Concordia University - Montréal 2018 >
        • Ecstacies of Influence - December 16, 2018 - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre - Montréal
      • The Past Sealed Away - Peter Wall Institute Artist in Residence - Vancouver, BC 2017 - 2018 >
        • The Past Sealed Away... Article
      • What's in a Song ? - Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2017
      • In The Hole - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 2017
      • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2016 >
        • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Installation
  • Graphic Scores
    • slippages - 2018 >
      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
    • Between the Song and the Silence: Berlin 2017 - 2020 >
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Banff Iteration
      • My Muses
      • What's in a Name?
      • Taking Flight ... The Process
      • Swan Song... A summary of my process for my MFA research
  • Portfolio
    • The Past Sealed Away ...
    • The Past Sealed Away... Prints
    • Immense Immensities
    • In The Hole
    • Mortsaf for My Father
    • Souvenir sacré
    • Fleurs sacrées
    • Mortsaf
    • Genetics for Cowboys
    • Beautiful Ghosts
    • Niagara Tondos
    • Twinned
  • C V
  • Contact

A Ubiquity of Sparrows: Background

Drumming, shouting, beating the trees with long poles, erecting innumerable scarecrows and flags, using slingshots and rifles, so that birds began to fall out of the sky by the thousands as they succumbed to exhaustion. 
Reflecting upon the environmental impact of species fluctuations and the effect of removing opportunistic species led me to Mao Zedong’s Four Pests campaign and the deliberate eradication of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. This has long been considered a contributing factor in one of the world’s worst self-inflicted environmental disasters, leading to China’s famine [1958-1961].

The Four Pests campaign was instigated by Mao, who declared that mosquitos, flies, sparrows, and rats were unhygienic and needed to be eradicated. Sparrows were included, as calculations had been done that determined that they ate approximately 4 kilograms per year of grain.  Therefore,  if 1 million sparrows were killed, you could feed 60 thousand people. He announced that “the whole people, including five-year old children, must be mobilized to eliminate the four pests.” 

For three days in December 1958, the entire populace was exhorted to participate in the slaughter of sparrows. Drumming, shouting, beating the trees with long poles, erecting innumerable scarecrows and flags, using slingshots and rifles, so that birds, afraid to land, began to fall out of the sky by the thousands as they succumbed to exhaustion. Truckloads with millions of dead sparrows were driven around the cities and towns to demonstrate the efficacy of the campaign.

China’s Academy of Sciences later produced a report on how many insects, such as locusts, a favorite food of the sparrow, the birds ate compared to seed, demonstrating the killing of sparrows was highly counter-productive; the proliferation of locusts and insects was a factor in the deaths of 30 to 45 million people due to famine resulting from  massive crop destruction.

These birds were later reintroduced to the country from Russia.
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The whole people, including five-year old children, must be mobilized to eliminate the four pests.
                                                                      - 
Mao Zedong
Picture
​ We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des Arts du Canada de son soutien.
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  • Home
    • Artist Statement
    • Bio
  • Performances
    • Ecstacies of Influence - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre -Montréal - December 2018
    • slippages - The UBC Symphony Orchestra - Chan Centre - Vancouver - October 2018 >
      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
  • Exhibitions / Residencies
    • Recent Exhibitions ... Now You See Me... >
      • The Aura of the Already Said - Zygote Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio - 2019 >
        • The Aura of the Already Said: Exhibition - Press
      • Souvenir / Souvenir - Montréal, Québec 2017 >
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Press
        • Souvenir / Souvenir - Essay ​Culte du Souvenir
        • Souvenir / Souvenir: About the Exhibition ...
        • About ​Safe Passage
        • About the Paintings ...
        • About the Photographs ...
        • About the Vitrines ...
        • Souvenir / Souvenir : Invitation card
      • Souvenir sacré - Opasatika - Hearst, Ontario 2016
    • Residencies ... Home Away from Home >
      • Ecstasies of Influence : matralab, Concordia University - Montréal 2018 >
        • Ecstacies of Influence - December 16, 2018 - Le Gesù, Amphithéâtre - Montréal
      • The Past Sealed Away - Peter Wall Institute Artist in Residence - Vancouver, BC 2017 - 2018 >
        • The Past Sealed Away... Article
      • What's in a Song ? - Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2017
      • In The Hole - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 2017
      • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta 2016 >
        • A Ubiquity of Sparrows : Banff Installation
  • Graphic Scores
    • slippages - 2018 >
      • slippages - Press
      • slippages - Instructions for play and score
      • slippages in the Studio: About my process >
        • slippages Athabasca -Photographs
        • slippages Immense Immensities
        • slippages Notebook
        • slippages Athabasca Painting
      • slippages - Performance Videos
    • Between the Song and the Silence: Berlin 2017 - 2020 >
      • Between the Song and the Silence: Graphic Score- Banff Iteration
      • My Muses
      • What's in a Name?
      • Taking Flight ... The Process
      • Swan Song... A summary of my process for my MFA research
  • Portfolio
    • The Past Sealed Away ...
    • The Past Sealed Away... Prints
    • Immense Immensities
    • In The Hole
    • Mortsaf for My Father
    • Souvenir sacré
    • Fleurs sacrées
    • Mortsaf
    • Genetics for Cowboys
    • Beautiful Ghosts
    • Niagara Tondos
    • Twinned
  • C V
  • Contact