Miisha Nash THE WILD ONES PART 1

Miisha Nash first became interested in parrots when she was 17 years old and working at a Petco in Beverly Hills. “I made a connection with this baby cockatoo,” she recalls. A customer, observing how tenderly she treated the bird, told her about an asylum in the United Kingdom for parrots who had lost their owners. Nash told herself she would document that one day.

Nash majored in African studies and photography at Hunter College in New York City and, years later, moved to South East London with her husband. One day, she spotted a feral Indian ringneck parrot while walking outside; later that night, she recalled the asylum she had wanted to photograph. “I thought, ‘That’s it, I’m going to do the project,’” she says.

Beginning in late 2014, she began traveling to parrot sanctuaries in the UK and US. Her initial goal was to capture the parrots, but when she showed early images to editors and peers, they were curious about their caretakers. “The two creatures are very different, but they both want to belong to a flock,” Nash says. She began focusing on capturing the unique relationship between the birds and their caretakers with “emotional respect and coherence.”

In her photographs, the camera's gaze is tender, showing interior spaces that look surprisingly cozy despite being devoted to unruly birds. Nash has plans to expand the series into a three-part book that will capture the lives of other displaced exotic pets, including tigers and chimps, and their caretakers. “Some people think they’re nutty—I’m trying to find the love story.”

—Brienne Walsh

Photos © Miisha Nash miishayana.com