Bill Burns
Bill Burns was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1957 and has lived and worked mostly in Vancouver, Toronto and London, England. His work consists mainly of sculpture, photographs, multiples, books and reworkings of everyday materials. He is known for his Safety Gear for Small Animals (SGSA) series, and the accompanying museum, where gear for animals and guides on how to assist them are displayed. [1] Using the conventions of both traditional museum display and print-media marketing, Burns' work spotlights minuscule safety vests, work gloves, bullet-proof vests, U.V. goggles and respirators, and acts as a commentary about human stewardship of the environment. In 2002 he began a project called Dogs and Boats and Airplanes. The project includes an extensive body of photographs as well as a children's choir whose entire repertoire consists of the sounds of dogs and boats and airplanes.
Bill Burns has published several books including When Pain Strikes, a critical anthology about pain and pain relief, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1999. Other book titles include Analgesia (1993), How to Help Animals Escape from Degraded Habitats (1996) and Urban Fauna Information Station (2002) and Safety Gear for Small Animals (2005). Burns has also published dozens of guides, posters, and editions. His book works and artists' editions are included in major museum collections throughout the world.
Burns' other works include, "Boilersuits for Primates" a collection of all the items that prisoners receive when they arrive at Guantanamo Bay . [2] and "How to Help Animals Escape from Natural History" a series of photographs depicting animals taking leave of natural history books.

Burns has received commissions and awards from l'APAPE in France, the Danish Arts Agency, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. His 2002 project "Everything I Could Buy on eBay About Malaria" at the Wellcome Trust in London, England is considered a seminal work in the area of electronic collecting. In 2005 and 2006 Burns exhibited his series of safety gear and rescue and triage tent works in the groundbreaking exhibition "Safe: Design Takes on Risk" curated by Paula Antoinelli at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His animal rescue works have also been exhibited at the Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea and El Basilisco in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Burns participated in the Forum Arte y Vida at the Havana Bienal in Havana, Cuba in 2003 and at the Bienal del Fin del Mundo in Ushuaia, Argentina in 2007.
Burns studied at Goldsmiths College at the University of London, England.

http://www.safetygearforsmallanimals.com/#5
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2005/safe/safe.html

An Excerpt from Safety Gear for Small Animals