Rebeca Méndez Selects

For as long as humans have been on earth, they have shared their space with birds. For many indigenous cultures, birds possessed a connection to the spirit world through their access to flight, and today birds have come to embody whole societies, serving as symbols of creation stories and patriotic pride. They allow us to examine humanity's complex relationship with the natural world, a history forged from fruitful bonds and shattering conflict.

I have centered this exhibition around the story of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II's private aviary, which housed thousands of birds from across the Americas in the city-state of Tenochtitlan. Following the capture of Tenochtitlan by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his soldiers in 1521, the aviary and all its inhabitants were burned. In this historic moment, the human impulse to collect and understand nature was overpowered by the human drive to also conquer and destroy.

I used this tragic account as the context with through to explore the Smithsonian collections at Cooper Hewitt and the National Museum of Natural History, and as an impetus to reflect upon the consequences and lessons that emerged. Through a selection of design objects, bird specimens, and rare books spanning several centuries and media, I invite visitors to consider how culture, design, technology, and the natural world have converged throughout history. In a multiplicity of ways, birds have inspired us to access our imagination, our capacity to visualize, invent, and create a future for our environment and ourselves.

—Rebeca Méndez