The Passenger Pigeon once filled the skies of North America in giant flocks. The species went from being one of the most abundant birds in the world during the 19th century to extinction at the beginning of the 20th century. Illustration by Johanna Magoria from her book “Cabinet of Extinction”.
A portrait of the now extinct Stellar’s Sea Cow from “Cabinet of Extinction”, a 52-page book by Johanna Magoria that portrays animals that have gone extinct within the past 500 years due to human intervention.
A portrait of “Baby Bucardo” (right), also from the “Cabinet of Extinction” — representing the first attempt in world history to de-extinct a species. Cells from the ear of the last Pyrenean ibex, named Celia, were harvested after her death and used to create a clone. In 2003 the clone, which was named Baby Bucardo, was born to a surrogate goat, but she only lived for 7 minutes.
A portrait of Celia, the last Pyrenean ibex from “Cabinet of Extinction”, a 52-page book by Johanna Magoria that portrays animals that have gone extinct within the past 500 years due to human intervention.
Portrait of the now extinct Passenger Pigeon from “Cabinet of Extinction”, a 52-page book by Johanna Magoria that portrays animals that have gone extinct within the past 500 years due to human intervention.
Cabinet of Extinction is a visual novel with eight portraits of animals that have gone extinct due to human intervention —all have disappeared within the last 500 years. Their fate is a narrative portrayed by a combination of fact and fiction with illustrations in pencil merged into mixed media collages. The texts accompanying the visual spreads in the book are made up of fragments of contemporary observations —telling a story about what led them down their final path to extinction. It presents a close glimpse from the past where fantasy meets history, zoology and science.
Cabinet of Extinction, contains 52 pages but it is an ongoing project, like the ever growing numbers of endangered or extinct species. To view the entire project visit http://www.johannamagoria.com/
