Description
“This piece is about more than anatomy or realism — it’s about intention. The Secretarybird doesn’t stalk from the sky like most raptors; it hunts on foot, delivering lightning-fast kicks to dispatch snakes and small prey. That grounded power, the sheer audacity of a bird that fights with its feet rather than its beak or talons, is what drew me in.
I chose to isolate the figure against a minimal background to highlight the energy of the gesture — one leg raised, wings spread, the tension of the moment suspended in time. It’s a pose that speaks to precision and instinct, and I wanted the viewer to feel that coiled momentum, as if the strike could land at any second.
For me, this bird represents a balance between beauty and violence, elegance and raw survival. Strike is an attempt to honour that paradox — to render still a creature that lives in constant motion.”
