To view Kura through a cultural lens we might consider the forms as myth known to the Iyatmal people of the Middle Sepik River region of New Guinea. The woman, Kura, was marooned on a lake and saved by a crocodile. She joined the crocodile in his underwater home and bore two children who could morph between eagles and crocodiles, both power symbols. The sculpture shows Kura lifted by one of her bird/crocodile children to carry her back to her village. If you walk behind the sculpture you’ll see that the bird with the outspread wings has a crocodile’s tail.

To view Kura through a science lens and as an example of Science Art, we might consider the forms through an evolutionary point of view. Take a look at the conjoined bird and crocodile. Since birds evolved from dinosaurs, they still carry reptilian traits. In fact, the scale-like skin of the crocodile, like the scales of a snake, for example, appear as feathers once one crosses the evolutionary sequence to birds.