Year: 2017

Medium: Eucalyptus driftwood, carved into a Māori Bullroarer, and painted with acrylics.

Conception: Ideation for this project first began while I was in New Zealand. At the time, I was learning how to play the Didgeridoo and met another musician who played the Māori Bullroarer, a pseudo-musical instrument that produces a howling sound when whirled through the air. To play this instrument, a string is fastened to the hole at the end of the piece. Holding onto the string, you spin the instrument vertically, altering the force of the spin to adjust the noise. Its pitch is determined by the speed in which it is whirled. The musician had made his own instrument out of a found piece of wood, which he carved. I learned from him that Māori Bullroarer, while commonly sold in the area, were meant to be very personal objects, and the materials, making, and decorating of them ought to be unique and specific to the player. Later, when I was walking a beach in North Carolina, I came across a small piece of eucalyptus driftwood and felt that I was meant to craft my own Māori Bullroarer from it. 

Making: I took the found piece of wood and carved it into the Māori Bullroarer shape. Then, I used acrylic paints to decorate it with the colors and patterns of the Hippo Tang fish.

Impact: As with all of my projects, I always aim to create work that is more than its surface beauty. The instrument is rendered in the image of the Hippo Tang fish, which was, and continues to be, decimated. The Hippo Tang, a beautiful salt-water fish, is frequently and unethically captured and placed in household aquariums, and this project seeks to generate conversation about the mistreatment of the species. Read here to learn more about the illegal collection and keeping of the Hippo Tang.