Matt Dunne
‘The Killing Sink’
by Matt Dunne, published by Void.
In 2017, in the remote South-East of Australia, a man called the police and reported that he had murdered more than 400 eagles over the last two years at the instruction of his boss. The news coverage of the criminal trial for this act was the starting point for artist Matt Dunne to explore the wider deliberate killing of the Wedge-Tailed Eagle. ‘The Killing Sink’ is part true crime and part a public act of grieving for what has been lost.
The Killing Sink
Each photograph in Dunne’s book depicts a place where eagles have been killed, the animals themselves or the tools of their destruction. The images are black and white, echoing the detachment and impartiality of crime scene photography. The title of the book is drawn from the term ‘killing sink’, which is an area created when a territorial animal is killed and as a result, others of the same species are drawn to the location.
The newcomers are subsequently killed and a cycle of killing is established. Collectively, the photographs in Dunne’s book intertwine the birds with the intention, psychology and history of the act of their demise creating a visual testimony.
Wedge-Tailed Eagles are Australia’s largest bird of prey, weighing up to five kilograms with a wing span of up to 120cm. Although, currently a species protected by the National Parks and Wildlife service, in the past some states offered bounties for their carcasses and it is estimated that more than 300,000 were killed in the decades before the late 1960s. The crime which originally inspired Dunne’s project meticulously recorded the investigation into the loss of life. Far from isolated, this crime—where eagles are trapped, shot, poisoned and killed—is one often repeated throughout Australia with vast distances and remote locations hiding these actions from prying eyes. Although the focus of ‘The Killing Sink’ is one species—the destruction of native species in agricultural interests is global. The book ultimately asks 'what have we traded? How could it possibly be worth it?'
“Ultimately, I aim to bear witness to an unpleasant present, brought to us by the remnants of some of our oldest and ugliest thinking: that other forms of life don’t matter and, no matter the cost, humans should subjugate others.”
Matt Dunne
The Killing Sink
20,6 x 27 cm
88 pages
750 copies
Softcover with foil & silkscreen
ISBN 978-618-5479-21-3
Matt Dunne
Matt Dunne is an artist and writer living and working in Melbourne, Australia. His work focuses on the complex relationship between people, nature and place. His work self-published three zines and his work is held in numerous private collections. He is the founder of Tall Poppy Press, a publishing house enabling emerging Australian photographers and previously co-founded and ran This on That.
Featured in
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AUSTRALIA, National Library of Australia
AUSTRALIA, North Metropolitan TAFE
AUSTRALIA, State Library of Victoria
ENGLAND, Charles Seale-Hayne Library, Plymouth University
ENGLAND, Picnic
GERMANY, Universitätsbibliothek Weimar
GREECE, Void
IRELAND, The Library Project
LATVIA, ISSP
PORTUGAL, Narrativa
ROMANIA, Photo Romania Festival at Grain Lab
USA, MoMA Library
USA, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Hirsch Library)
USA, Rice University (Fondren Library)
USA, University of Alabama
USA, University of Maryland Libraries
USA, University of North Dakota
USA, Yale University Library
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Photograph: Matt Dunne
Design: João Linneu
Edit: Myrto Steirou
Printing: MAS Matbaa
Binding: MAS Matbaa
Language: English
Font: PP Woodland Regular by Pangram, PangramMatt Dunne © for the photographs
Void © for this edition