Tracing the Sky celebrates the wetlands of Chile and Australia through a shared language of movement. Migratory birds cross oceans and continents in search of safe breeding and feeding grounds. They embody freedom, resilience and the quiet act of crossing boundaries. Like these birds, people also migrate, seeking safety, opportunity or simply the possibility of a different life. Every journey carries risk, memory and hope. Every crossing is an act of carrying something forward.

In this exhibition, Eggpicnic and Anis 88 merged their worlds, blurring the lines between birds and humans, exploring how movement, migration and memory connect us all. It was presented at Craft+Design Canberra in September 2025 and supported by the Division of Cultures, Arts, Heritage and Public Diplomacy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile (DIRAC) and the Embassy of Chile in Australia.

Wetlands are ecosystems that hold water, nurture life and build memories. They greet the birds that return and farewell those that take flight. Wetlands are temporary homes that watch us grow. They are places where we have woven our life stories, places that hold our memories and prepare us to leave. For this reason, wetlands are past, present and future. They are a home we know and a home yet to be discovered. Wetlands and the human experience are more closely intertwined than we might imagine.

To migrate is a powerful verb. What migrates with us when we migrate? How much of ourselves remains in the familiar wetland, and how much will flourish in our new wetland? The passage from one place to another transforms our identity, our sense of belonging and the way we build our stories. Migration is a very powerful act. It is difficult, uncertainty can stretch on, but behind it is a valid decision and a right that supports human mobility.

This space gathers personal testimonies from Chileans, along with migrants from other parts of the world, who have chosen to migrate with courage, longing and resilience. These stories, and the strength each one requires, recall the extraordinary tale of a migratory bird that, over its lifetime, flew a distance equal to the space between the Earth and the moon. 

Wetlands also resemble home in that they are fragile spaces that require care. In Chile, threatened wetland birds such as the Magellanic Plover and the South American Painted Snipe depend on these ecosystems to survive. In Australia, Latham’s Snipe also relies on healthy wetlands that support life across continents.

Australia and Chile both stand behind the Ramsar Convention, which recognises wetlands of international importance and promotes their wise use and conservation. In addition, Australia participates in four principal multilateral treaties that bolster wetland protection and migratory bird conservation: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the East Asian–Australasian Flyway Agreements—including JAMBA, CAMBA and ROKAMBA. These agreements reflect shared responsibility across nations to safeguard biodiversity, support ecological networks and uphold the fragile connections that span species, ecosystems and continents.

While these international agreements are an important step, they are only as effective as the actions taken on the ground. As nations, Chile and Australia have the opportunity and responsibility to go beyond commitments on paper and strengthen the protection of wetlands through local, national and regional efforts. This includes recognising Indigenous knowledge, supporting community-led conservation, and addressing the broader environmental threats that put wetlands and migratory species at risk. Protecting wetlands is not just about preserving nature. It is about safeguarding the shared futures of people, animals and ecosystems that depend on these living landscapes.

Painted works in repurposed wood, depicting human figures carrying birds within them and birds containing small human figures, invite reflection on what we carry when we leave a place and what we hold onto as we build a new life. These nested images explore the connection between our inner world and the journey of migration.

The home, the body and the bird each represent different forms of refuge, memory and movement. Whether crossing skies or flying over oceans, we always carry with us a language, identities and stories. Sometimes we search for refuge. Other times, we become it. These works honour the intimate experience of carrying home within ourselves, whether as a memory or as a future yet to be built.

Honouring the Magellanic Plover, journeying along Patagonia’s southern shores, and the Pilpilén, a constant presence in Chilean wetlands.

The endangered Magellanic Plover, with fewer than 500 individuals remaining in the wild, breeds along the wind-exposed shores of shallow, saline lagoons in the Patagonian steppe of southern Argentina and Chile. Once the breeding season concludes, these birds move from these lagoons toward the coast and further north, reaching Bahía Lomas, where large flocks gather in May, before continuing north along the coasts of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The small population travels together across the steppe, stopping at intermediate saline lagoons or directly at the coasts of the continent and Tierra del Fuego.

The Pilpilén inhabits the Chilean coast from Arica to Chiloé, residing in wetlands, estuaries, and coastal lagoons. His presence highlights the vital importance of these ecosystems, which provide food, shelter, and breeding grounds for coastal birdlife. Though largely resident, the Pilpilén’s life is closely tied to the rhythms of the wetlands, making him a sentinel species for the health of these habitats.

Latham’s Snipe breed in the northern half of Japan, primarily Hokkaido, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, and the adjacent Russian mainland and Kuril Islands. Individuals begin to arrive in Japan in late March or April, peaking in mid-May, with the last birds arriving in June. Following breeding, the first birds depart Japan in late July, with migration peaking in mid-August, and the last birds leaving by early October.

In Australia, birds show a complementary pattern: the first arrive in August and September, while they begin departing southern Australia in February, with the last leaving northern Australia in May. Very few records exist between their breeding and non-breeding grounds. A few observations have been made in the Philippines and Taiwan, but these are too sparse to determine precise migration routes or stopover sites.