Making Ends Meet
21"h x 45"l x 9"w;
Photo by Melisa Kroening
Sometimes in contemplating the circumstances I am creating for one of my pieces, I find myself thinking about if it were me in the figure. In this piece I thought about how hard it is to get everything done that needs doing under the best of circumstances, and then projecting that reality on the obvious additional difficulties of making ends meet when the world is set against us. The ever shrinking habitat, the pressure of poaching and even the normal challenges of getting on in the world make me marvel at the fact that so many of our creatures survive to reproduce. Even as humans, our journey is fraught with obstacles that we somehow manage to slip past, close misses, where the slightest difference in fortune could have meant “lights out”.
My original drawing for this piece was simply a two-headed rhino. As I played with the
form, it became clear I wanted a handle of some sort that would reveal a human element in the plight of this animal who has nowhere left to go. I have always loved the form of the rhinoceros, and am deeply saddened that the northern white rhino is now extinct, due almost entirely to human activity. No other animal can control the effects of their actions like humans can. We were blessed with massive brains so that we could survive and expand our range, and for tens of thousands of years, we coexisted
with such marvelous fellow creatures. Then somehow we ended up too clever by half, and here we are, threatening the very abundance that sustains our life on this amazing planet.