Made in collaboration between photographer Kate Fichard and plastic artist Hugo Deniau, ‘Scarecrows’ is a series that invites the former tradition ousted by sharp technological progress. The project was born out of Fichard’s observation that the tradition of blanking out birds from the crops has faded recently in France. “I noticed that scarecrows no longer exist on fields and vegetable gardens. Unfortunately, today they are replaced by pesticides and protection nets.” Being sensitive to environmental issues, the photographer decided to bring back the tradition and offer the meeting with these mysterious sculptures once again. This time, however, scarecrows are inspired by the idea of contemporary terror by using objects and colors tied to pollution and attacks that ruin the environment. Fichard, who got very much involved in the project, plans to continue travelling around different fields and produce more works, aiming at publishing a book or an exhibition about the subject.
All images © Kate Fichard
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He has a point, I don’t recall ever seeing a scarecrow or similar anywhere in France (outside of museums / festivals). That had never occurred to me until just now, reading the OP… Thanks!
Fichard is a she. Scarecrows really are a lost art. I hadn’t thought about them for years either, but they were a common enough sight when I was young, and people used to love getting creative with them.
Thanks for the correction, and my apologies to Ms Fichard.
I’d like to see Judy Garland trying to dance with one of those scarecrows…
Oh how I love your blog. It brings me constant sparks of wonder.
Raucous Indignation, you are so very kind, thank you! After looking at all the wonderful scarecrows, we decided we’re going to do one in the Spring. We don’t need one, but that will make it all the better!
Those are super cool!!!
They make me want to do some self portraits as a scarecrow. Maybe when it’s a bit less muddy.
By the way: Crows good!!! They don’t harm a damn thing and they don’t hurt crops. What you want is scaredeer.
A few years ago I made a design for a chateau de crow -- I had this idea of a big crow feeder with crenellated battlements so that as the crows walked back and forth it would look like they were corvidding the walls. I never got it built because, reasons, mostly involving a shortage of kongboard and the ladyfriend who was going to do the faux stone wall paint moved on..
Marcus, crows don’t hang out here. I see them now and then, but not often. I don’t need a scaredeer, over winter, I need a scarerabbit!
Yes and No: Both the American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and English / European carrion crow (C. corone) do eat grain — they are omnivore and also eat, e.g., mice — and, as Ye Pfffft! of All Knowledge notes, “Crows can be a substantial problem for gardens in the springtime: they can work down a row pulling up recently sprouted corn to eat the remaining seed / seedlings.” However, the mice & insect, &tc, eating is generally nowadays thought to provide a benefit greater than the crop destruction:
When I started researching this answer, I thought I remembered that crow was a generic name for “bird”. The word scarecrow goes back a long, long, ways, and hence, my guess was, originally meant “scarebird“. However, I am wrong here, apparently, crow has always(?) referred to the Corvus family / species, which in England would usually be the carrion crow.