August 30, 2023 - September 16, 2023
MIKAELA CASTLEDINE – SYNANTHROPES AND OTHER ANIMALS
Artist:
Mikaela Castledine
Location:
West Perth
To a degree my work has always been synanthropic, which means “with humans”. My particular fascination is with the strange and idiosyncratic way humans interact with animals. The way we can hold two distinct ideas in our heads at the same time, such as the cuteness of a children’s book mouse and killing plague mice in the thousands with a flame thrower; or raising money to save an endangered species of cockatoo while feeding poisoned wheat to another.
This exhibition is both a salute to those animals which thrive despite us - who live in our houses and feed off our scraps, who evade our traps and seem to laugh at our attempts to quell their numbers - and a close look at some of the more curious human/animal relationships.
Many of the works use recycled native or introduced timber, repurposed household items and reclaimed plastic waste which emphasises the way we treat these animals as expendable and if being of no use to us equates to having no value.
