Columba Livia

Columba Livia 

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Avichen's Atelier

They exist almost everywhere. Columba Livia, the scientific name for common pigeons, or better known as doves. It is one of the sign colour psychology which is playing in our mind.

It is normal that people tend to believe that black cats brought misfortunes. Some Chinese believes that black dogs able to see evil spirits. 

For the Columba Livia, they ended up with the similar fate. It represent endearment in the Bible, it is also a sign of Jonas, and it represent peace and also known as a form of Holy Spirit. They were loved for their ability to return home. Often they have the role in a fairy tale, which is sending letters from a prince to a faraway princess, or being the hero sending good news to the king about the victory of a war. 

Columba Livia in the modern world, are not seen to be as great as it used to be in the pass. For the Chinese, they were known as the animal which only comes to you when you offer them food (that’s the natural behavior of all animals). When somebody where called “Pigeon’s eyes” (白鸽眼), it means that this person discriminates people who does not give them any benefits. Furthermore, the pigeons were feared for its ability to carry diseases such as bird flu. No matter how much we hate them, we do love to eat them. 

This image came into my mind when I just started my LLM study in Turin in September 2014. When one of my classmate from Columbia (Mr Diego) express himself that he extremely dislike pigeons when one of the feral pigeons flock over him. In Malaysia, many people, especially Indians, loves to feed the pigeons. The incident triggers me to draw Columba Livia, the animal which is previously so loved, now hated by people. I hate them too! Especially when they poop on the streets.

I was inspired by Hans Holbein's "The Ambassador" and Pawel Kuczynski's artworks. They are so meaningful and expressive. The paintings screams for something. Some issues which is sensitive and might get you into troubles if you transform them into words. When I was painting this piece, I do have that something in my heart which is very offensive to others if I put it into words... Racism...