Jacht op kraaien en spreeuwen 1594 - 1598

Jan Collaert II's engraving, *Hunting Crows and Starlings*, transports us to the late 16th century, a time when the natural world was both a source of sustenance and a reflection of social hierarchies. Collaert, working in the Netherlands, a region burgeoning with mercantile power, captures a hunting scene that is less about sport and more about the intricate dance of deception and capture. The print depicts various methods of trapping birds, from decoy crows to limed twigs. It’s fascinating how the act of hunting becomes a metaphor for human relationships marked by imitation and entrapment. The crows, lured by a decoy, mirror human tendencies to follow and be easily misled, while the starlings caught on sticky branches evoke the precariousness of freedom. "Adulation" and "attachment" are words in the latin inscription accompanying this piece. They invite us to consider the ways people are caught in sticky situations. Does this artwork reveal aspects of ourselves we would rather not see? As we look, we might reflect on the unseen snares in our own lives, and the bittersweet tension between freedom and belonging.