A selection of 18 pieces from the "Migration" series of small paintings on defunct currency exhibited at the Talbot Rice Gallery at the University of Edinburgh, as part of the exhibition The Accursed Share (titled after George Bataille's 1949 book about political economy).
Though tiny, these works were placed as if to allow the birds to fly in the sky up around the massive glass dome, and to occupy a grand space—the entire mezzanine of the double-height neoclassical Georgian Gallery—a context and edifice that speaks to foundations of western history/values. Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid's Naming the Money sculptures occupy the ground floor.
Eighteen bays were painted the color of lapis lazuli, a pigment which during the middle ages was valued more than gold. "Lapis" is the Latin word for stone and "lazuli" or "lazulum", means sky or heaven. Within this word, the earth and sky exist as one. For ancient Egyptians, the stone was a symbol of the night sky.
The works were also part of The Wild Escape, Art Fund's national project in collaboration with 524 museums to highlight biodiversity in the UK. You can find more information about the series in the next portfolio, titled Migration I.