Margot McMahon Apapane (2024)

Margot McMahon
Apapane (2024)
Technique Mixte Oil on Canvas
12” X 12”
$1,750

Hawaiian Indigenous Endangered Birds

During a family vacation to Oahu in 2021, McMahon sketched endangered birds indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. Returning to her studio, McMahon painted the birds through her Technique Mixte process. When the fires broke out in Maui in 2023, her painted birds took on special meaning as symbolic indicators of our earth’s fragile ecosystems. Her series of endangered indigenous birds brings awareness to the human and environmental factors that threaten avian populations in the Hawaiian Islands.

‘Apapane‘s major threats are Avian malaria and avian pox that are transmitted by mosquitos, deforestation, habitat reduction, and forest damage from human activity. Introduced predators like barn owls, feral cats, mongooses, rats eat their eggs, hatchlings and adults. A fungal disease affects a critical nectar source, the ‘Ōhi’a tree.