Artists Looking At Animals

Joshua Reiman is an artist living in Portland, Maine: “If somebody walks into an art gallery and sees the film, my instinct is not to catch their attention and keep them there. I’m not selling them anything. The point is to have introspection into who we are and the human condition.”

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); MBARI-MARS (CC BY-NC 3.0); craigsmith, DCFX, higginsdj, and piwikiwi (CC0 1.0). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Hemming1952 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Claire Calderón is a writer living in Oakland: “One of the things I’m working on, just as a person, is trying to think about investing more in things I will never see the benefits of, I’ll never see the full trajectory. And especially as Americans, we are not encouraged to think that way.” In this episode, we talk about the phoenix, playing the environmental long game, and shampoo bars.

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); n_audioman, CameronPheiffer, Benboncan, BockelSound, and matucha (CC BY 3.0); and bruno.auzet (CC0 1.0). Image by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Karmimadeebora McMillan is an artist living in Brooklyn: “Those stories came from something. They came from something that actually happened, and that’s truly amazing to me, how someone can take that seed and turn it into this other thing just from knowledge and history and research.” In this episode, we talk about the white stag, and animals in fantasy.

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); InspectorJ and nicStage (CC BY 3.0); kvgarlic (CC0 1.0); as well as the Hanna-Barbera Lost Treasures Sound Effects Library (Public Domain Mark 1.0) on Internet Archive, and Tierstimmenarchiv/Günter Tembrock (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image © 2006 Wikimedia Commons user Túrelio (CC BY-SA 2.5).

Kendall Reiss is an artist living in Bristol, R.I.: “I think the whale is such an interesting thing because it quickly becomes this really complex network of relationship.” In this episode, we talk about the whale, and reframing our relationships with animals.

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); juskiddink (CC BY 3.0); rcproductions54 and felix.blume (CC0 1.0); Wikimedia Commons user Wilfredo R Rodriquez H (CC0 1.0); and Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Image by National Marine Sanctuaries via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Allison Maria Rodriguez is an artist living in Boston: “I’m kind of interested in that transition from living to endangered to extinct to myth, to mythical. I think mythical animals make evidence of the beauty and the awe of actual animals.” In this episode, we talk about the thylacine, and how to grapple with big, scary ideas like extinction.

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); kangaroovindaloo and ramston (CC BY 3.0); felix.blume and thewebbster (CC0 1.0). Image by Smithsonian Institution Archives/EJ Keller via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Ethan Murrow is an artist living in Boston: “It was one of those moments when you were a kid and you realize history is so big, and kind of unquantifiable. That was one of those moments for me, when I suddenly realized all these amazing things had happened on the land, realizing there was very likely a sheep farm on the property we were working on 100 or 150 years before.” In this episode, we talk about raising sheep as the basis for art practice.

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); vman533, andune, and dobroide (CC BY 3.0); filmscore and yuval (CC0 1.0); as well as Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo by USDA/Keith Weller vis Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Temim Fruchter is a writer living in Brooklyn: “One of the things I’m always so aware of with animals is that is that I know so little, we know so little, about where they’re coming from, where they’re going, what’s going on with them. And it’s extremely humbling, and it’s an important kind of humbling, I think.” In this episode, we talk about the raccoon and the meaning of wildness. 

Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron and macindoe1 (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); juanlopz08 (CC BY 3.0); kyles and chris dagone (CC0 1.0); as well as Tierstimmenarchiv/Günter Tembrock (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Alexas_Photos (CC0 1.0).