Born With Wings celebrates desert birds and marks first joint exhibition for Bo Laidler and Rex Davies

An artistic couple have joined forces for their first combined exhibition, creating celebrating birds and desert landscapes out of recycled materials. Bo Laidler and Rex Davies’ first joint exhibition, Born With Wings, shows their individual artistic interpretations of a trip along the Canning Stock Route. Both Laidler’s artworks featuring rich ochre hues and Davies’ black and white drawings were made almost entirely out of recycled materials, primarily found by the artists at Fossickers Tip Shop over months of searching. Laidler said they had even painted over some artworks by well-known local artists, bought second-hand, all in the name of reducing waste in an industry which can involve the use of unsustainably sourced wood to create canvases. “Almost everything in this exhibition has been recycled,” Laidler said. “Recycled canvas, recycled board, recycled paint...there’s a lot of recycling going on here. “It’s all to do with not wanting to leave our footprints on the planet.” Although the couple have been together for 27 years, this marks the first time in both their celebrated artistic careers that they have teamed up for an exhibition. They hope their artworks will bring attention to the fact that one in six Australian bird species are threatened, with many of those species concentrated in the arid landscapes the couple visited while travelling along the Canning Stock Route. Born With Wings is on at the Vancouver Arts Centre until January 26.