4th Avenue Peacock
Proud as a peacock. Aristotle, Chaucer, Shakespeare, your judgy Grade Six teacher. Peacocks are rarely invoked in honour. ‘Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock – a stride and a stand.’ But, aren’t we just jealous of these feather-eyed creatures and their human-shaming courtship displays?
Photographer Waldo Nell created quite a stir with his photographic series of peacock feathers magnified x 500.
Male peacocks work to attract peahens by shaking their tail feathers so quickly – ~25 times a second – that they create a rattling sound to accompany the visual show. To mix it up, some peacocks in the muster will also dance their feathers back and forth in a train-shiver.
The East-Van raised artist, Nick Gregson, has captured a blue peacock mid-display for proud Vancouverites. His striking Glow in the Dark mural can be found on 4th Avenue, just west of Main.
Written by Elizabeth Newton
www.creatorsvancouver.com
Header Image: Peacock and Peacock Butterfly. Archibald Thorburn. 1917
