a delicate balance

i had a very unexpected reaction to cutting up these feathers. they have been sitting in a box in my garage for two years now. they were a little too beaten up to use in my usual STILL compositions. and yet. when i started cutting them i felt as if i were somehow causing injury. taking a blade to millenia of careful perfecting felt like a form of callousness. an undoing of a small part of the world that is everywhere being so comprehensibly undone. it felt like the opposite of a prayer. i like the visual result. but the composition gives me an uncomfortable feeling.

composition of cut feathers