The Cost of Safety

The Cost of Safety



This black and white photograph foregrounds the structure of captivity. The wire grid dominates the frame, its rigid geometry interrupting the kākā’s form and establishing containment as the central subject. The bird is encountered through the bars, not beyond them, positioning restriction as the primary condition of seeing. The kākā’s eye remains visible, alert, aware, and steady. There is no overt distress. Instead, the image holds a sustained tension, a quiet consciousness shaped by enclosure. The emotional register is deliberately restrained, allowing the photograph to operate through pause and proximity rather than sentiment.



By removing colour, the image shifts from description to psychology. Texture and contrast carry the work, feather against metal, organic life held within manufactured order. The absence of colour denies visual comfort and directs attention to presence, awareness, and duration.

Rather than documenting captivity, The Cost of Safety reflects on the paradox of conservation. Safety is achieved through restriction. Care is expressed through control. The work offers no resolution, only an acknowledgement of the emotional cost embedded within protection, and the uneasy balance between preservation and freedom.