Most of the great works of art are securely bolted away in galleries. Every night the Mona Lisa is locked in the Louvre. Then, when daylight comes, she is surrounded by her suitors – security men who ensure that Da Vinci’s priceless painting doesn’t saunter off in the wrong hands.
Alexandra Lockett and Ian England are artists, but when it comes to security they have a much more relaxed policy.
Every week a van arrives to collect Lockett and England’s precious work, which is then driven to a far-away town or city before being tipped out of baskets and tossed to the winds.
Luckily Lockett and England’s art is super-smart and invariably makes its way home. That’s because the Moseley-based artists, who are also a couple, don’t produce paintings or sculptures – they work in the medium of pigeon.
While most artists hide away in a studio to produce their works, Alex and Ian have a loft – a pigeon loft. They are the proud owners of 20 homing pigeons and are also members of Aston and District Pigeon Flying Club.
There are many pigeon owners in Birmingham, however Alex and Ian are the only ones who view what they do as art, rather than a hobby. They call their work Project Pigeon – but is it really a bona fide form of creative expression?
“Art is about making people think about something or look at it in another way,” says Alex. “And that’s what we are about. This project makes people think of pigeons not as horrible, diseased rats with wings, but as creatures that can actually do something.”
So how does the couple, whose pigeon loft is under a viaduct in Milk Street, Digbeth, transform these humble birds into art?
Well, they race them – just like any other pigeon fancier.
They even won a prize, when their bird came in the top 10 of one particular race.
“£14.50,” grins Ian. “And a certificate.”
Two years ago, when Alex and Ian started Project Pigeon, there was a spectacular launch.
“We hosted an exhibition where the pigeons carried small works of art made in different studios around the country.” says Alex.
“There was a live opening – people came to watch the pigeons fly back to the loft, carrying the art works with them.”
The couple regularly open their loft to the public, and have run workshops with young offenders, teaching them maths, history, science and geography – from a pigeon perspective.
“For example, when you’re racing pigeons you need to know geography. You have to know all the different locations round the country, and the distances between places,” explains Ian. “That’s how you calculate how fast your pigeon is flying compared to others.”
Alex and Ian met and trained as artists at the University of Reading, before moving to the prestigious Goldsmiths College in London.
They only started puzzling over pigeons when they moved to Birmingham, although they say this particular artwork is likely to last for the rest of their careers.
Much of their inspiration came from joining Aston and District Pigeon Flying Club, which meets in a working men’s club underneath Spaghetti Junction.
“We were a little bit late, the first time we went,” recalls Alex. “We walked into this room and there were 40 people looking at us. I just thought, ‘Oh no!’
“But everything was fine. The other people really took to us, because they saw how we were exposing pigeon fancying to the outside world and that we wanted to do something different with pigeons.
“They have been very supportive, giving us lots of pigeons to start off with and all sorts of advice and equipment.”
Alex and Ian’s pigeons are worth about £30 each – not that expensive, considering higher class birds exchange hands for up to £200,000. Nevertheless, a barbed wire fence surrounds the Project Pigeon loft to keep them secure.
Some of Alex and Ian’s friends go further. “The higher up you go in the world of pigeon fancying, the more security-conscious you have to be,” says Ian.
“We went to one man’s house where he had installed cameras all over his backyard. As soon as there is any movement in the backyard, his television switches to a view from those cameras. So he always knows what’s going in and out of his garden, whether it’s a fox, a cat or a human.”
This is all very high-tech and not something that fits in with the traditional view of pigeon fanciers being flat-capped Northerners.
“There are people from all round the world at our club,” Alex says.
“There’s an Albanian guy and an Iranian guy. There’s a gay man and a man with no legs – all sorts of different people.”
However, the Project Pigeon duo are the only artists in the club, and Alex is the sole female. Being in their late twenties, the couple are also the youngest members. The club mostly comprises men in their fifties, sixties and seventies.
However, all members have one thing in common – a passion for pigeons.
“There is one man,” recalls Alex, “Who once said to us, ‘I had a heart attack this morning, when my pigeons came in from the race.’
“We said, ‘Really? What happened?’
“And he said, ‘No, I literally had a heart attack.’ He clocked his pigeons in first though, even though the ambulance had arrived. He asked the medical team to wait. That’s how much pigeons mean to these people.
“We know fanciers who have got divorced over their pigeons – men whose wives have given them ultimatums, ‘It’s either me and the kids, or it’s the pigeons.’ They usually choose the pigeons.
“Wives of pigeon fanciers are called pigeon widows. They can’t go on holiday because who would look after the birds? Pigeons take over your life very quickly.”
The birds certainly have Alex and Ian in their thrall, even though the couple maintain jobs as well as their art work.
Alex works in the Ikon Gallery, while Ian is stationed at Walsall Gallery.
To look after their birds, the couple get up at 6am, make their way to the loft and put the pigeons in a basket.
Then they drive to Worcester or Droitwich Spa to exercise the pigeons by releasing them. Having let the pigeons go, the artists drive back to the loft, and feed and bath the returning birds.
Next they change the water, open the aviary and scrape away pigeon poo. By then it’s about quarter to ten, and time to join the working world.
After a day working in their respective galleries, the couple return to the loft in the evening to feed the pigeons.
Finally, it’s home for enough sleep to allow them to wake up nice and early the next morning.
The project isn’t just maintained by the enthusiasm of Alex and Ian.
It also relies on a number of different funding organisations, including the Working Neighbourhood Fund and Grassroots Grants.
A syndicate is also in operation, where various organisations and people get the chance to sponsor a bird.
Meanwhile, the couple have just devised their latest concept for Project Pigeon. With the help of the public, they want to design and build a multicultural pigeon loft to reflect Birmingham’s wide range of ethnic groups.
“Pigeons are just so very more-ish,” laughs Alex. “There’s so much information you can take from them.
“There’s lots more we want to do, including working with schools and community groups, and teaching children about pigeons.
“We also want to write a book and develop an archive about pigeon fancying in the West Midlands.
“This is our third year with the pigeons, but it feels like it’s only just the start for Project Pigeon.”
