A contemporary artist explores relationships among humans and animals, real and mythical

German artist Lin May Saeed (b. 1973) grapples with the complex entanglements of humans and animals. Her work centers on the nonhuman animal and revisits, revises, or outright invents stories of animal subjugation, liberation, and harmonious cohabitation with humans, combining historical, mythical, and theological narratives with materials such as paper, steel, and Styrofoam. This last material—easy to acquire and work, yet environmentally destructive—receives particularly sustained attention. Empathy, humor, and lightness of touch combine with a radical reimagining of everyday life and a sense of how animality is intertwined with otherness. The catalogue surveys Saeed’s work and thinking, positioning them within a broader discourse on animals and animality in art and culture. Its title suggests the appearance of animals in humans’ modern moral consciousness, simultaneous with their departure in the current era of mass extinction; and its design places special emphasis on typography and lush close-up photography.

Distributed for the Clark Art Institute

Exhibition Schedule:

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
(July 21–October 25, 2020)

Contributions by: Mel Y Chen, Birgit Mütherich, Lin May Saeed