Endangerment stages an encounter between the viewer and individual animals whose existence is increasingly threatened by human activity. Endangered species are made into life-size sculptural presences and close the psychological and geographical distance that allows extinction to remain an abstract phenomenon. The animals cease to exist solely as distant concepts and instead appear as singular bodies, occupying the viewer’s physical space and demanding recognition, thus becoming both subject and witness. Their physical proximity proposes recognition as an ethical encounter.

 

The sculptures evoke the stillness of archaeological remains, while their symmetrical postures recall the conventions of Ancient Egyptian art. Seemingly suspended between life and death, paper origami cranes rest upon their bodies like butterflies, which delicate and ephemeral nature comes in stark contrast with their solid, immovable aspect. The cranes' colours echo the animal´s original hues and provide the only chromatic component of these otherwise monochromatic beings. They act as residual traces of life and the final source of vitality preventing disappearance. This thematic tension places the works´ definition between symbols of preservation and that of memorialisation, depending on what awaits them. 

 

Each sculpture corresponds to a distinct threat contributing to the inevitable disappearance of animal species if left unchecked, including climate change, poaching, hunting and ocean waste; all of which belong to the commodification of nature. The plurality of causes reflects the systemic character of extinction characterised by an accumulation of human practices that progressively erodes the conditions necessary for its survival.

 

All sculptures are editions of seven.
 

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