Bird Closet

Bird Closet is an art collective based in the rural village of Bethel in Appalachian Ohio. Supportive, inclusive, and democratically governed, Bird Closet has been created and cultivated by more than 23 participants ranging in age from 16 to 38 since its formation in 2018. Participants inhabit self-selected bird alter egos as a means of evoking an alternate universe in which they are free to pursue creative and social projects that may seem untenable in the world as it exists. Far from escapist, their work seeks to imagine new possible futures for the village of Bethel and inspire similar explorations by other residents of the area and beyond. Bird Closet’s zine, Fraxinus, features select collages, erasures, and poetry produced by the collective. Issues of Fraxinus are covertly disseminated in the village.