Pollos Volando (Flying Chickens)

by Anna Gonzalez

Width: 60cm width x Height: 90cm

Archival Inject Print 

About

Anna is a Spanish-born Australian artist whose multidisciplinary practice is rooted in
autobiography, theatricality, and the tension between humour and trauma. Growing up under Franco’s authoritarian regime, she witnessed political repression and personal loss, experiences that continue to inform her work. Since migrating to Australia in 1982, Anna has developed a practice combining painting, printmaking, and photography, supported by formal training including a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), two Master’s degrees, and a teaching qualification. Her recent work centres on the creation of dioramas—miniature, ephemeral scenes made from drawing, sculpture, collage, and puppet-making. These are carefully lit, photographed, and dismantled, with the resulting prints capturing the fragility of memory, identity, and belonging. Anna calls this process “art-playing,” a tactile, intuitive way of reconnecting with her inner child.

"Pollos Volando" (Flying Chickens) This work is a response to the devastating impact of bushfires on Australia’s native wildlife, focusing particularly on birds as symbols of fragility, survival, and loss. In the piece, birds are depicted in flight, stripped of their feathers — a haunting metaphor for the violent stripping away of their habitat and safety. Their naked, vulnerable forms soar across a scorched and desolate landscape, embodying both the instinct to escape and the inescapable trauma left behind. The absence of feathers highlights the deep ecological wounds caused by fire, rendering these creatures ghostly, exposed, and displaced. The work speaks to the urgency of environmental care and reflects on the silent suffering of nature in the face of human-driven climate catastrophe.