Abstract

My work explores aspects of the hierarchy between animal and human. I aim to find out how we as humans act, and how we treat animals in a not very humanised way. How would it look like if we would change place with the animals? To explain the different aspects of humanity, the work includes a symbolic language. I use different human coded objects, that works as an index that I’m creating during the master education. Among these objects are for example a hotdog, pommes frites and a bowl with cereals. During the process, another aspect has been added to the specified objects; the children perspective. Since children are more open minded and haven’t learned the structure of society yet, they are a great inspiration for me to learn how to look beyond the hierarchies in society. How do we as humans think before we learn how we should be thinking? One of the symbols I use is the cow, that works as a symbol for the animal. I have chosen to work with the cow since it is an animal that we use as humans to get milk and meat from, yet the cow is assisting and accepting us no matter what we do to them. I feel sorry for the cow, being a calm animal with no intention to do harm, at the very same time as we as humans kill them with no mercy. As a symbol for the human, I use Leif GW Persson. He is a Swedish TV personality taking and getting a lot of space in everyday society, for example in Swedish television. This project has an ambition to find out more about the hierarchies between different species (including the human). In order to tell the story through children, I have had workshops with them and gotten influenced by their ideas in the making of the installation and embodiment. This is a way for me to get “dehumanised” since children has less time living as human beings and haven’t yet learned how they should behave. The workshops works as one method in my project, while another method that I’m using is the sloppy craft. Through this method I aim to both show a more childish and naive way of working with textiles, to make it be looking more as if a child would have made it. It’s also a way for me to question the traditions within textile craft, and to challenge the hierarchic system between fine art and the craft field. Furthermore, it’s of importance to me challenging traditions of personal reasons, since I have always been very law-abiding in general and a so called “good girl”, wanting to be accepted by everyone. Through my artwork I am breaking these rules and that is also a big reason why I’m doing what I’m doing. The most important message in my work is still to highlight the hierarchy between animal and human, and I aim to do it with the help of sloppy craft and children.