DAVID SHEPHERD ART OF SURVIVAL AWARD WINNER 2021

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Decoding the Dodo

Martin Aveling

Decoding the Dodo

When you think of a dodo, what comes to mind? A grotesquely obese bird? Or the word ‘extinction’ perhaps? I would have said much the same, until last year when I was commissioned to draw one by an avid fan of this iconic bird. As it turns out, our infamous emblem for extinction didn’t look anything like you think it did. Most notably, it has been fat shamed for centuries! The unenviable link to extinction, although tragic, is fair. Most of us would be familiar with the phrase, “dead as a dodo”. Estimates vary on the actual date of extinction,...