My series “The Pets” was inspired by emerging evolutionary theories on aesthetics and attraction.  If concepts of beauty (symmetry, mean proportionality…) are instinctually correlated with genetic fitness, why do we manipulate our bodies in conformance with variable and seemingly arbitrary standards?  If all life shares a common source, what morphological traits make one recognizably human – sympathetic, sexually appealing…? 

My figures toe the line between feline animal and feminine human, object of desire and aberrant “Other.”  Through them, I address themes of possession, submission, fetishistic mutation and the male gaze.  Major contemporary influences include human-animal hybridist Patricia Piccinini, as well as Ron Mueck and Evan Penny; these three sculptors’ hyper-realistic renderings are both technically impressive and emotionally affecting.