3 Questions With Myranda Bair, curator of "Some Pigeons I Know"

Myranda Bair, who put together the art exhibit Some Pigeons I Know (through December 13 in the Sahara West Library), got the idea a few years back by looking out of her window every morning. “There were always these two pigeons just walking down the street,” she recalls. “It’s like they had this routine.” The pair, most likely mates, were getting their day started. “I was just, like, wow, we really are so similar.” So she rounded up a group of artists to expand on that idea. 

Many people hate pigeons; why did you think they'd make for a good exhibit?
One of the reasons they’ve been so useful to people is that they’re big homebodies. Once they select a place, that’s their home, which they always go back to. Also, very few things on Earth mate for life. But pigeons are one of those creatures. So they have these very strong family structures, which kind of proliferates that roosting nature.  

I was interested in that idea of a bird that we find such a nuisance is incredibly useful historically to humans. We used them for centuries because they had that homing ability — you could take them from one place and send messages and they would always fly back.  

What do pigeons — or the way we treat them — tell us about ourselves?
I wanted this to be a teaching show. I’m really interested in art being didactic, and telling a story, though not all art has to. My story, I especially wanted to tie it historically to — there are war stories about pigeons that saved people. Pigeons are small, and you don’t feel like they could do much, but they are often remarkable. They don’t understand what being shot means. They can be shot and still be flying because they don’t give up. We know what it means to get hit with a bullet. Whereas with the birds it’s, I’m going to keep going until I fall out of the sky. And there are stories of them arriving with these messages, and they’d be shot six times. 

I wanted to highlight what they’ve done for humanity. While at the same time being these kind of selfless family birds, always trying to get home. And I felt that is something similar to humans. 

What did you think when the work started coming in?
I was really happy with the work. Where the curation came in, it was less about picking the pieces than in picking artists who I felt had a really strong message, who were also teaching artists, so they would have a storyline to their work. Which is what I believe happened in the show.

(Condensed and edited for clarity.)