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For her new work, 'Avi-Alarm', multimedia artist Hanna Tuulikki has drawn on Thomas Bewick’s work to create a series of new Instagram filters which turn five of the UK’s most threatened bird species – the capercaillie, curlew, puffin, lapwing and mistle thrush – into Instagram influencers.

The filters, made in collaboration with digital artists Saturn Akin and MV Brown, transform social media users into a human/bird hybrid. The filters are embedded with alarm calls which translate each bird’s alarm signal into protest chants, fusing field recordings with the human voice to sound a red alert for bird life through a cacophony of human and avian harmony.

As Hanna explains: “Bewick is celebrated for his engravings, in particular of birds, as well as his technical innovation in print making, and in his day, he was also known for his radical politics. Many species which appear in his ‘A History of British Birds’ books are now threatened by climate chaos and ecological degradation, with a shocking 70 species included on the UK red list. As I learned about his work and life, I began to wonder how he would respond to the devastating biodiversity loss we are experiencing today. If Bewick were alive now, would he be a contemporary eco-activist? Would he embrace digital technologies and take to social media as a tool for communication and protest?”

You can try out the filters on Hanna’s Instagram page @Hanna_Tuulikki and read more about the making of the project on Hanna’s website.

‘Avi-Alarm’ credits:

Artist, composer and voice: Hanna Tuulikki @hanna_tuulikki
3D designer: Saturn Akin @saturn_akin
Digital designer: MV Brown @m_v_brown @mvbrownmakeup
Final sound mix and mastering: Tommy Perman @surfacepressure

‘Avi-Alarm’was commissioned by The Bewick Society and Newcastle University, in partnership with the National Trust and Arts&Heritage. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Instagram filters © Hannah Tuulikki, 2023