Belonging Pigeon originally commissioned by Walker Gallery for the 2012 Liverpool Biennial, the UK Biennial of Contemporary Art.

While 150 brightly colored birds adorning the exterior of a gallery seems light and whimsical, there's actually a deeper meaning behind it. Patrick Murphy's Belonging is a thought-provoking art installation that's scattered on and around the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool as part of the LIverpool Biennial, a 10-week contemporary art festival.

As we all know, pigeons are often seen as a nuisance, they're unwanted birds that have even been called “sky rats” or “rats with wings.” Murphy asks us to question this idea by making them bright and beautiful. The surreal sight is meant to question our own feelings of acceptance and belonging.

As Patrick Murphy said, “Belonging will engage audiences with its bright color compositions and also use the emblem of the pigeon to highlight the nature of transience and a very human struggle in finding acceptance or a natural sense of place, whether this be an intellectual or a physical/geographical homeland.”