08.26.08

Field Museum Sue
by Colleen Plumb

Animals Are Outside Today

I began this project looking at "fake nature", wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live/real animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness.

This series of photographs examines the essence of our connection, as well as our fragmentation from the natural. I am interested in the increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. The work explores simulation, consumption, destruction, and reconstruction as well as notions of endurance and the reality of loss.

Growing up in Chicago gave me an urban childhood: running through gangways and exploring alleys with my friends. Something more and more kids today don't experience. Early on, seeds for my interest in nature were planted through lots of outside play, camping trips, and odd pets (our duck named Sir Francis Drake, for example). I am sure these beginnings influence and inspire my work.

With this series I seek to understand how the human connection to the rest of nature is often developed through assimilation and appropriation. I hope this work will incite contemplation about the lives of animals and generate dialog about resource usage.