all that remains

Marian Drew Artist Statement "Every living Thing"
"In 2002, I travelled to Germany, where I studied the still life paintings in museums and in particular an extensive collection at Wilhelmshoehe, in the city of Kassel. On my return home these ideas united with the imagery of the animals I saw killed on roads in Australia. in the course of daily life these native animals are killed by cars, domestic pets or power lines and are easily found scattered beside the roads through our urban environments.
This new perspective made me question our existing relationship to wild animals, the wealthy landowners in Renaissance Europe believed that the abundance of nature was there for human consumption. I found correlations to these ideas whithin the local attitudes to wildlife that are killed in the drive for urban expansion and economic growth.

By imitating the historic painted forms of the 'Still Life', but replacing paint with photographic verisimilitude, and familiar European animals with Australian native species, a discord is exposed.

This work aims to overlay the historical and the present, the European with the antipodean and photography with painting, while exploring contemporary notions of death and a changing relationship to animals."

 

Drew photographs some of her images (like the one below) in complete darkness and illuminates the objects with a “torch”. She doesn’t know herself exactly how the lighting is going to turn out until she  sees the image.