Mo Ganji: Straw-headed Bulbul | Strohkopf-Bülbül | Pycnonotus zeylanicus | No. 212/250 from work group 8/99

Straw-headed Bulbul | Strohkopf-Bülbül | Pycnonotus zeylanicus

Mo Ganji turns his focus to the straw-headed bulbul — a medium-sized songbird of lowland forests, river edges and wetlands — by letting the single line move toward inner coherence rather than voice or ornament. The line condenses the being into a reduced presence, setting aside song, plumage and familiarity so that what emerges is not depiction, but a core. In Ganji’s thinking, the line is never exclusive to the bird; it remains open, reminding us that every figure is also a human concept provisionally applied.

Pycnonotus zeylanicus is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Native to Southeast Asia, the species has suffered a catastrophic decline across its range, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Once common, it has vanished from large parts of its former habitat, with remaining wild populations believed to be extremely small and fragmented.

The principal threats include intense trapping for the cage-bird trade, habitat loss, and the species’ strong appeal as a songbird, which has driven demand even as numbers collapsed. Because removal from the wild directly targets adults, populations have little capacity to recover naturally. Legal protection has been insufficient to curb illegal capture.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the bulbul can be encountered beyond melody or desire. It allows the being to be perceived apart from the value placed upon its voice, suggesting how beauty, once extracted and owned, can erase the conditions that allowed it to exist freely in the first place.