Acid Washed
16.5” x 36” - Giclee Print, 2005
Most unfortunate for the albino rabbit, his lack of eye pigment allows induced irritation to be more clearly observed during cosmetic testing. After these vicious experiments, the eyes, ears and skin of the rabbit are left charred and festering, sometimes more than a week or until the test is deemed complete. Having paid the utmost price for beauty, his ravaged body is discarded and his short life of misery has come to an end.
Afflicted
20" x 36" – Giclee Print, 2005
Birth is synonymous with existence, life, and a moment of ecstasy, yet any kind of interference can make the same moment distressful. Affliction from the developmental toxicity test in the process of embryo development is used to assess whether the test substance, when ingested causes malformations in the embryo. Pregnant animals are used in this test, being subjected to a gradual dose that evokes change in the mother and affects the embryo. This is probably the most dreadful of all processes as it interferes with the mother and the embryo causing dissolution of either one during the course of experimentation.
Compared to What?
28” x 36” - Giclee Print, 2005
There is no reason compelling enough that would justify the torment and suffering caused through animal testing. The researcher wipes his hands clean after an experiment and simply takes note of actions and reactions. It is but a simple experiment conducted for the scientific musings of mankind … the suffering isn’t all that much. Is this grave atrocity being justified, must one forget the seriousness of it, the repercussions, the wounds and the pain? Well, if at all then, compared to what?
Day Dream
12” x 36” - Giclee Print, 2005
As I wait for time to pass - dreams wind their way around me - chasing and tormenting me with images of the past. Gnawing noises, gashing teeth, painful mourns and sweeping cries - one by one, the other primates are jarred from their cages, led down the corridor and subjected to the gruesome procedure. BAM! … With a jarring noise my daydream is broken and I’m forcefully dragged down a dark hallway into a sterile, brightly lit room. What seemed like passing time has become a stark reality and their fate now becomes my own.
Exile
16" x 16" – Giclee Print, 2005
The word ‘exile’ connotes expulsion or being banished and it is alarming that as a human race we annually banish 50 – 100 millions animals worldwide, not to send them in exile for doing or being something unacceptable, but to fulfill our scientific endeavors. No species of animal have been spared from the intentions of animal testing, from fruit flies to non-human primates, they are all ‘used’ and either killed during experiments or subsequently euthanized. From birth through the series of a life span, there is no moment spared to exile these animals from another useless experiment.
Lateral Vision
36" x 18" – Giclee Print, 2005
For the fated lab rat, each day begins and ends in much the same way. He is awoken every morning with an exercise regimen, food and water. A monotonous, but tolerable routine quickly sets in and life on the surface appears good. Until slowly and methodically the induced disease creeps in and he is left helpless - writhing on the bottom of the glass cage and breathing heavily his last breathes.
Machine Head
20" x 20" – Giclee Print, 2005
“Machine Head” reflects the disregard with which an animal in the laboratory is treated and referred to a mere ‘test subject’; the work exemplifies the toxic nature of such experiments and the eventual disposal of the animal once the tests are conducted. The work not only addresses the adversity of animal testing, but also starkly reflects the very nature of it. Humane or inhumane, the work screams for the acknowledgement of life and death, whose absence had pushed the very limits of cruelty beyond sane cognizance.
The Danger Zone
12" x 24" – Giclee Print, 2005
To reach out with a helping hand’ - a sanctimonious mimicry of a social norm, yet the ironic reality of classifying oneself as a race that controls all reigns of society. So the lone chimpanzee reaches out from the dark abyss in a final plea for help from his unending struggle of being a victim to the intellectual genius of a race long forgotten - a reality that still stands to be understood as it justifies its course of actions. And, although - in a short time span the tortuous existence may end - the soul will continue its ending journey of the memories from a danger zone.
The Looking Glass
30” x 20” - Giclee Print, 2005
As the spirit of his victim haunts a murderer after his dastardly deed, the scientist has some unwelcome visitors that his conscious must contend with after the lab animals have served their purpose. Their souls live on after their mortal bodies have been ravaged. Their eyes beg us to connect to their worldly suffering. Their spirits are left trapped in the laboratory forever, yet their after-life seems to be one of peaceful contemplation.
The Patient
20" x 30" – Giclee Print, 2005
The “patient” mimics the similarity of the human being and the primate and brings out the negative connotation of anthropomorphism. While the very subject of anthropomorphism emerges from religious mythologies of perceiving divinity in the human form, it is ironic to see the same concept in the most inhumane form. The duality of any form can be seen in the hedonist overtone that subjects itself to the needs of the human mind versus the true understanding of it.
Thinking Cap
28" x 24" – Giclee Print, 2005
The baboon was told of unheard wit by means of a thinking cap that would enlighten him with boundless intelligence. He patiently waited while the researchers fitted him with a helmet that was secured to a large machine by way of electrical monitors and couplings. Once strapped into the restraint chair, the helmet was fastened tightly in place and the switch was turned on. An immense electrical current streamed through his body eventually leaving him sufficiently tormented and badly charred. The cap left forth its destruction, the baboon was slain and another experiment was needlessly conducted.
Time and Space
16" x 36" – Giclee Print, 2005
The individual laboratory mouse is perhaps the most 'disposable' of all research subjects. This work compels the viewer to focus on the solitary mouse - in his eerie, cellular setting - from the embryonic stage of life through to the time when it will perish in the name of science. The viewer’s attachment to the mouse is limited because no eye contact can be made, but the single eye [like the single mouse] stares back - with the pressure on - forcing humanity to look at our actions and examine the inherent ethical conflicts that arise by forcing these species that once lived in freedom to die for the dubious causes of mankind.
Triptych
36” x 13” - Giclee Print, 2005
The stages of life are like a passing phase, while one moves along, the other takes its place. Triptych is a mirror reflection of the various stages of animal testing, imposed upon a helpless being, which is tested and tortured in the name of scientific experimentation. The glaring eyes remain through the stages, accusingly expressing the penchant betrayal of humans, seeking answers and asking for reasons of how life has been exposed and finally stripped away.
