How can I miss you if I don't know you're there?
Date
2017
Authors
Stringam, Sarah Lisbeth
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Fine Arts
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : Universtiy of Lethbridge, Department of Art
Abstract
How Can I Miss You if I Don’t Know You’re There? is an MFA thesis project that addresses the inevitable contradictions and tensions inherent in human/animal relationships. This work is a series of sculptural pieces installed using the tropes of museological methods of display and classification. Concentrating on invertebrates, I engage concepts like empathy, care and mothering in the context of these vilified subjects, contrary to the dominant dualisms characterized by Western, Christian, capitalist culture that hierarchize species. As I explore my entanglement with nonhuman others, attempts to convey affection blur with acts of unintentional subjugation as I implicate myself in the precarious balance between care and harm with respect to the use of living and dead organisms.
Description
Keywords
animals in art , human/animal relationships , invertebrates , liminal space , non-human organisms on display , species hierarchies