(Finnish verb: cherish, nurture, enshrine)

An imagined field study of birds and other creatures in a cabinet of curiosities. In illustrating and conceptualizing a world of survival and mutations, Vaalia is made to resemble a daydream of animal conservation and behavior inspired by ornithological studies.

From the perspective of a field researcher uncovering a long-abandoned biological wonder, they present their work as a series of illustrations and a collection of oddities brought back for display.

The imagery is strung together in a loose narrative of a particular biological oddity, brought together in a hand-bound book and Wunderkammer cabinet.

Real and fabricated objects are brought into a fantasy context through deconstruction and manipulation.

Many of the specimen items in the cabinet are on loan from the UM Museum of Zoology, with special thanks to Janet Hinshaw and the Bird Division for their gracious help in bringing this image together. All biological objects were obtained legally for this display.