Featherwork, Empowerment & Protest

Rosa Dyer's research at the Pitt Rivers Museum is focused on the use of feathers in objects made by South American Indigenous peoples.

The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from areas of anthropology, ethnobiology, ornithology and museum studies to consider the dynamic relationships held between Indigenous peoples, birds and environments.

Rosa's research aims to engage with current Indigenous resistance movements occurring in South America, where feathered artefacts, alongside face paint and music, are being used as tools for empowerment to protest against biodiversity loss, threats to Indigenous cultural heritage and the defence of territorial rights.