Of Stone

My curiosity surrounding strange, elusive animals comes from a sense of wonder, empathy, and sincere longing for an encounter with these creatures in the quickly changing natural world. We can look to artificial experiences like museum wildlife displays and taxidermy dioramas that create narratives through the viewer’s observation and speculation. This recreation of once sentient beings into inanimate objects produces an unsettling encounter of stillness and disconnect. Through their transformation, the animal remains physical and their story oddly lives on, saving them from the tragedy of being forgotten. I find interpreting animals as objects is an act of preservation that can evoke expansive and expressive stories with the openness to make connections to our own behaviors and beliefs.