This series presents a different take on memento mori in a way that emphasizes human indifference to the greater ecological whole. The animals symbolize the same vulnerability that we are all subject to. These paintings act as a means to question the ethical implications of loss of innocent lives due to the human agenda (war, industrialization, neglect). I wish to impart an attentiveness to sensitivities within the viewer that result in an event of knowledge and understanding. These paintings express an awareness of forces that exist beyond humanity, and into that of a shared whole. By portraying these figures in an abstracted manner, I am removing stereotypical ideas of life and death. Through formal abstraction and the positioning of the animals in non-places, these paintings explore the subjectivity of reality.
