Sue Bustin
"hunger traces is a term used in falconry to denote a weakness that lies across a hawk's feathers like a razor slash due to periods of deprivation or starvation."
Hunger Traces by Sue Bustin Sue Bustin's book hunger traces takes you immediately to a memory space, but using a delicate wire she suspends you above the space, so you can see that this is a place where she has been. By holding onto the sublime, it is possible to view the past and the present from a distance.
Her artist's books are full of delights. You never know what is going to fall from between the pages, some of which are of hardy stock, some as fragile as flower petals. I remember Sue telling me a box of her exquisite books had been lost in delivery. It still pains me to think that in a huge warehouse somewhere in Canada there is a small box waiting to be returned to its artist owner. I want to believe that someday the falcon will return to rest on her gloved arm.
Sue's piece for Virtual Postcards from the Feminist Utopia developed out of her fascination with falconry. She says: "In the Feminist Utopia we have finally acknowledged that the soul of the world is held in the hearts of animals. It is a world where living things are not abused or mistreated. It is a place where we have no physical constraints..."
At the University of Calgary falcon site you can be a voyeur to a nest and see the latest images of falcons feeding their young. Looking at this site makes me want to be there with the birds, and makes me frustrated to know that my physical presence would upset the nest. I feel Sue Bustin's longing for freedom from physical constraints. This is where technology has brought me.