Animals

2013
Photography, 5 C-prints, 109 x 84 cm (43 x 33 in)
Brooklyn, USA

Similar to a key moment in the history of painting, the “Animals” series depicts wild animals and combines a two-dimensional mural on a photo wall with the artist’s body parts peeking out, completing the animal via gesture. This humorous approach questions the conventions of representation and perception of images.

The artist’s limbs protrude like sculptural elements. This multi-layered composition of fragmented body parts evokes a sense of the uncanny – a suggestion of an image behind the image. When the focus shifts to the newly formed body, the original disappears from view and draws attention to the act of transformation itself.

Metaphorically speaking, the viewer embarks on a perceptual safari and associates the fragmented forms with familiar animals such as zebras, monkeys, ostriches or elephants. This interplay between the female body, the animal and the canvas serves as a critique of the Anthropocene and the prevailing narratives.

“Animals” playfully explores our instinctive patterns of association and is reminiscent of prehistoric cave paintings and their ritual “hunting magic”. The series is also an allusion to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, in which man is trapped by his subjective perception. In a bittersweet presentation, the artist appears as a cheeky monkey, a rebellious zebra, a calm elephant and a quirky ostrich.

By foregrounding the speechlessness of animals (or women), this series is a commentary on the limits of human agency. Although we can see without limits, we interpret the world in a highly subjective way. “Animals” is an absurdist challenge to the audience to unravel their own expectations and prejudices.