Kindred (2018; silicone, fibreglass, hair) by Patricia Piccinini“We can see the humanity in her. And

Kindred (2018; silicone, fibreglass, hair) by Patricia Piccinini“We can see the humanity in her. And then we look at her longer and think, But she’s different, in fact she’s different from her children. But we recognise the relationship between them. It is familiar. And we feel that. And then we realise that the work is not about external difference — which is the difference between us and other animals that we use to justify erecting barriers and driving them to extinction for profit. We realise that this family, this amazing family is completely connected. And that we are all also connected. And this connection is a beautiful thing. She is an amazing expression of nature, even this mediated nature. And she’s valuable. And it’s from that more affirming place that we are able to act. It makes me think of Mary Shelley—she was an abolitionist. So she didn’t believe in slavery—the slavery that made her generation of people wealthy. And because she was an abolitionist she didn’t eat sugar.“Because slaves made sugar. Now eating sugar is a small thing in someone’s life. But it’s hugely symbolic. And then when she comes to write Frankenstein this whole narrative of the master-slave informs how we relate to the monster who is presented as the slave. Like, completely controlled by the master-father. So I see this beautiful connection between these two stories — Shelley and sugar and Frankenstein and Kindred and palm oil. This idea of how can we treat slaves or nature as badly as we do because we don’t see them as human.”- Patricia Piccinini, from this great long read -- source link

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