Wildlife artist and conservationist Sofiya Shukhova used the HEARTH space to rework her sketches and linocuts into large-scale paintings as a continuation of her ongoing project about the Asian Songbird Crisis. Demand for the songbird drives many species to extinction leaving the forest silent. Hundreds of thousands of birds are caught from the wild in Indonesia to fuel both: local and international trade. A traditional Javanese saying “A real man has a wife, a horse, a house, a dagger and a songbird” highlights one of the reasons behind the high local demand. The research shows that the international songbird trade is doubtfully less devastating.

Sofiya's project aims to study songbird trade, its tackling strategies and solutions, and to translate them using art media. She hopes that her artworks will help to bring attention to the illegal and unsustainable Asian songbird trade. Some pieces from this series will be exhibited in the Timiryazev Museum of Biology in Moscow, Russia in Q4 2021.