Description
Strong lines and angles astound in this unusual portrayal of a secretary bird by talented Zimbabwean artist Cole Stirling who is passionate about Africa and its wildlife. With a Fine Art degree majoring in photography, Cole concentrates on monochrome work which allows the subject to speak for itself. He is fresh from selling a strong environmental piece on this year’s David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year exhibition in London, and we are pleased to welcome his work to our gallery for the first time.
“The Secretary Bird has long fascinated me – not just for its striking appearance, but for its unique and brutal hunting technique. In Strike, I set out to capture that precise moment of impact: a blur of elegance, aggression, and deadly focus.
This piece is about more than anatomy or realism – it’s about intention. The Secretary Bird 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.”
