Snake Crosssing (exhibited at The Diving Bell on May 30th 2019 in Montreal)
Snake Crosssing is an installation composed of a silicone cast snake that has cut plastic pieces embedded into the silicone (creating patterns in the snake) and that is illuminated from the inside with LED lights. In the installation, the silicone snake has burst through a cardboard box. The second part of the installation features a black resin cast snake that is covered with a structure made from plastic baggies. Each baggy contains a different object found on the ground.
The part of the installation with the black snake alludes to the weight of our consumerism and waste on the animal kingdom. The objects found on the ground are part of the same environment as where the snake lives. They have been collected a bagged, and subsequently assembled to form a blanket-like structure. This structure acts as an impediment to the snake's movements, weighing on it and trapping it.
The second part shows how the snake that has been affected by mankind's output. Parts of the plastic have seeped into the snake, and it has become illuminated, almost radioactive, through a transference of the objects and plastic into the snake's body. The snake has mutated, giving it the strength to break through the cardboard box with ease, but how quickly it will take for the snake to expire is hard to tell.
The installation can be seen as different moments within a timeline of affectation of nature by man. As the planet warms and animal species are increasingly affected, man's output continues to affect the natural world, to the point of merging with it permanently.
All photographs by Matthew Thomson
The part of the installation with the black snake alludes to the weight of our consumerism and waste on the animal kingdom. The objects found on the ground are part of the same environment as where the snake lives. They have been collected a bagged, and subsequently assembled to form a blanket-like structure. This structure acts as an impediment to the snake's movements, weighing on it and trapping it.
The second part shows how the snake that has been affected by mankind's output. Parts of the plastic have seeped into the snake, and it has become illuminated, almost radioactive, through a transference of the objects and plastic into the snake's body. The snake has mutated, giving it the strength to break through the cardboard box with ease, but how quickly it will take for the snake to expire is hard to tell.
The installation can be seen as different moments within a timeline of affectation of nature by man. As the planet warms and animal species are increasingly affected, man's output continues to affect the natural world, to the point of merging with it permanently.
All photographs by Matthew Thomson
