Untitled (Foreigners)
Artist
Markel Uriu
MediumScans (Common starling, cat, european rabbit, japanese knotweed, zebra mussel, human)
Dimensions30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineSeattle City Light 1% for Art Portable Works Collection
My work explores invasive species, their environmental impacts, metaphorical applications, and links to humanity, globalization, and empire. Shipboard rats are famous examples, but many were introduced intentionally: the European rabbit, scattered by the Ancient Romans to feed traveling troops, or the broadleaf plantain, a medicinal plant referred to as 'white man's foot' by indigenous Americans. Due to our globalizing world, a new collective of globally distributed species is emerging, creating what some ecologists call a second Pangea. –Artist statement
Alfredo Arreguin