Homo insipiens

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Dust to dust, ashes to trust. Our windfall, not ever enough. 

Cash cow. Force them out. Our pitfall. Raze and flout.

One third gone. Rest forlorn. Our downfall. Bull, bear pawns. 

 

At least 3500 thylacines were bounty hunted between 1830 and the 1920s. They were granted protection in 1936 - for the last 59 days of their existence. Today, one million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction (IPBES, 2019). In March 2021, the Australian Government listed another 13 species as extinct under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999).

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Homo insipiens is a film installation of paintings: the extinct thylacine; and endangered Australian golden sun moth; native tigris stenotritidae bee; numbat; masked owl; and earless dragon, disappear before our eyes. This work is a contemplation on the nature of existence, extinction and the acknowledgement that human behaviours are escalating the rate of species loss. 

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Materials: Gouache paintings eroded with water, filmed and edited.