backwoods alphabestiary
Fur, leather, felted wool, taxidermy eyes, quills, wire, moss, twigs, stones, leather, wood, glass, foam, plastic, textiles, paint, dyes, feathers, lights, motors, mechanics, switches. 26 dioramas (A-Z), dimensions variable (average box 24” x 12” x 12”) 2013
Real and imagined northern animals in contemporary sticky situations. Displayed in the spirit of a musty natural history museum exhibit, including misleading descriptions, misleading interactive elements (incorrect sound effects, repetitive movements, broken handles, etc).
A Bestiary was historically a book describing all the beasts of the world.
An Alpha-bestiary illustrates one animal for each letter of the alphabet, storybook style.
The Backwoods Alphabestiary transforms that ABC book format into a series of 26 3D dioramas, with the creatures, settings, and descriptions all decidedly Backwoods and Northern.
“I wanted the sense is that these dioramas were created years ago and have fallen into disrepair, their mechanisms rusted or broken; the ‘specimens’ collected within trapped forever in their dusty worlds. Real & imagined northern creatures find themselves negotiating strange new-world situations as best they can, and the ‘earnest’ scientific explanations may or may not be accurate (as with museum displays of yore). It’s a contemporary blending of our romanticism of the north, skewed taxidermy, and the poetics of storytelling.”