 He was an artist-in-residence at Yaddo in 2013, the MacDowell Colony in 2015, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's studios on Governors Island in 2016.Much of Birkin's work relates to war.Projects have included a collaboration with the courtroom sketch artist at the Guantanamo military commissions; a digital photographic transcription of identification numbers from the Iraq War civilian casualties database; a photo archive image from Kabul traced to Renaissance lapis lazuli mines in Afghanistan; an extract of CIA legalese in skywriting above Manhattan; and a plane circling the Statue of Liberty's torch towing a banner that read "The Shadow of a Doubt".