Animals possess a natural instinct and vitality that I admire and respect. I believe that if you take a closer look at nature you will understand everything better. Ultimately, humans possess an animalistic subconsciousness that goes beneath and beyond the scope of personal consciousness, and we are completely unaware of it.
I decided to start my series by bringing to life a kingdom that has always captivated me, the animal kingdom. “Animalia” is a deep look into the beauty and spirit of the natural world. Animals possess a natural instinct and vitality that I admire and respect. I believe that if you take a closer look at nature you will understand everything better. Ultimately, humans possess an animalistic subconsciousness that goes beneath and beyond the scope of personal consciousness, and we are completely unaware of it. If you take a look at human animalistic behavior around the world you will not be able to deny that we are part of a single family. We are all inextricably interconnected. I try to speak for them and us through this series by producing bodies of work portraying the beauty of this kingdom in hopes to enrich and generate awareness by selecting animals I am drawn for various reasons. On each of them you will see a collage of many elements and forms, regular and irregular shapes, triangles, polygons, mandalas, curves, and jewels, mystic and underlying spiritual symbolisms transformed and speaking to each other in harmony, allowing the viewer to do the completing, the reflection of self.
“Human beings are a part of the animal kingdom, not apart from it. The separation of “us” and “them” creates a false picture and is responsible for much suffering. It is part of the in-group/out-group mentality that leads to human oppression of the weak by the strong as in ethnic, religious, political, and social conflicts.”
— Marc Bekoff ~ Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
