Floating Trophy/ Memento Mori/ Honestas – 2023

Oil On Canvas. H68 x W62 cm

This work addresses the plight of the threatened African elephant. This painting depicts a stuffed and mounted juvenile African Elephant (Loxodonta Elephantidae) on a wall surrounded by a wallpaper of ‘honesty’ (Lunaria annua). This is a preposterous image. After all, who would shoot a baby elephant and then, have it resurrected by a taxidermist. The seeds in the Honesty pods have the appearance of small ghost-like Edvard Munchian faces. They are at once witnesses to the inhumane treatment of this beautiful creature as well as detailing various emotions ranging from disdain, shock and horror.

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