The Killing Sink
Matt Dunne
Void
English
Softcover
Edition of 750
88 pages
206 x 270 mm
2022
ISBN 9786185479213
In 2017, in the remote South-East of Australia, a man called the police and reported that he had murdered more than 400 eagles over the last two years at the instruction of his boss. The news coverage of the criminal trial for this act was the starting point for artist Matt Dunne to explore the wider deliberate killing of the Wedge-Tailed Eagle. ‘The Killing Sink’ is part true crime and part a public act of grieving for what has been lost. Each photograph in Dunne’s book depicts a place where eagles have been killed, the animals themselves or the tools of their destruction. The images are black and white, echoing the detachment and impartiality of crime scene photography. The title of the book is drawn from the term ‘killing sink’, which is an area created when a territorial animal is killed and as a result, others of the same species are drawn to the location.
The newcomers are subsequently killed and a cycle of killing is established. Collectively, the photographs in Dunne’s book intertwine the birds with the intention, psychology and history of the act of their demise creating a visual testimony.
(source: https://void.photo/the-killing-sink)
About the Artist
Matt Dunne is an artist and writer living and working in Melbourne, Australia. His work focuses on the complex relationship between people, nature and place. His work self-published three zines and his work is held in numerous private collections. He is the founder of Tall Poppy Press, a publishing house enabling emerging Australian photographers and previously co-founded and ran This on That.
mattdunnephoto.com
(source: https://void.photo/the-killing-sink)
