Viva Brighton Issue #61 March 2018

ART
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A collection of found and recreated birds nests. Photo by Marcus J Leith
museums. But then egg collecting becomes a
pastime for many people who are interested
in the natural world, so that by the 1950s it is
made illegal and it gets driven underground,
and you end up with a network of underground
collectors.
“In the final room is a recreation of the largest
ever illegal collection of eggs, which belonged
to a guy called Richard Pearson. There were
7,713 eggs, collected over a 20-year period.
What it took to make that collection is incredible.
It’s very hard to collect eggs; they’re
only there for a couple of weeks, and they’re
up trees and they’re across rivers. It takes a
huge amount of planning and expertise. The
collection was destroyed in 2006 and Pearson
went to prison. Beautiful photographs exist of
this collection, and I’ve used them to recreate
the hoard, made out of porcelain. It looks
exactly as it was found in the flat of Richard
Pearson, in its old tins and old fish boxes – this
collection that would rival the British Museum,
hidden in a flat in Cleethorpes.”
Rebecca Cunningham
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, until 20th May
Sculptural installation of porcelain eggs, recreating a hoard
discovered by the RSPB in 2006. Photo by Marcus J Leith
A recreation of a Bowerbird’s bower, with a view of the film
A Natural History of Nest Building. Photo by Marcus J Leith
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