Hasenblut

I thought I had given up raising animals for meat (goats) when I moved to Hollywood, Florida in 1999 to take a position at the Biscayne Bay Campus, FIU to teach art. However, the lush potential of a Floridian back yard became apparent. I now have chickens, bees and rabbits and wonderful tropical fruit trees for starters.

With the Hasenblut (German for rabbit blood) series, I am trying to honor the rabbit’s life with images made with its life-blood. The blood is used as a changing pigment/stain to create images of longing and perhaps a memorial to the animals that lent their life to mine.

The political positioning of creating work from cute animals will be problematic for some. All pigment sources are called into question as well as ethical meat production and the relativity of materials and imagery that recalls old and new habits.