Studio Kit

If you wonder where the world of a flying rabbit comes from, the answer may be an even stranger thing than you first imagined.

When I finished this little piece, I said to BSP “I don’t know what to call it...” – and BSP asked the usual question, “Well, what’s it about?”

And I explained that this piece was about perception and reality and said that the title should convey that the world this rabbit was flying in was not a dreamscape, or an alternate universe outside our own, nor even that it was our present universe transformed by a fortunate confluence of stars, time of day and lighting – but that – in the rabbit’s mind, this was the “real” world – and who are we to say it isn’t?

Branch is made from a dark brown fabric with copper threads running through it;
leaves from gold mesh, hand sewn with gold thread

That just because we don’t see the world this way doesn’t mean that it isn’t real – it only means that we don’t have the correct perception, beliefs and societal constructs in place (i.e. that rabbits fly and that leaves are jewels) to believe that its real.

We agreed that was a tall order for a title. :D

Look Ma, I used beads!

But while I was making this piece, I was having Deep Thoughts (no relation to Jack Handy) about anti-realism (i.e. that there is no objective reality – life is how you perceive it); cultural relativism (that reality is constructed by cultural and mental iconography, religious and political movements and societal constructs of what is “real”); and moral relativism (ethical standards, morality, and right or wrong are culturally based, and that therefore, we all decide what is right for ourselves, dependent upon our particular culture.)

Light tan suede, copper & brown silk from the challenge fabrics plus my own shiny fabrics.

I suppose you might wonder why I have been thinking about these things, but in recent weeks there have been some news stories out of the United States that have raised issues that had me feeling quite depressed. In particular, what was “hot” during the construction of this piece:

Painted lutradur nose and eye

The Kony 2012 meme. That video propaganda was so carefully constructed that it got a shocking number of people to agree that we in the West ought to involve ourselves in the civil war in Uganda and further, that we ought to pursue that war despite the facts that doing so would:

Rabbit`s body made from that amazing snow dyed polyester fabric

a: support armies who use children to fight their wars (although that was the very problem Invisible Children particularized with Kony); and that

b: by supporting Invisible Children’s chosen army, we were supporting soldiers who are currently literally raping their way across Uganda leaving in their wake rape’s attendant despair, demoralization, physical and psychic pain, disease and children.

A flying Easter bunny!

And when the figureheads of Invisible Children (those behind Kony 2012) were asked about these issues (and a host of other, problematic issues with their campaign), they said “Any help is better than none”. And apparently, millions of Americans and Canadians agreed, as evidenced by their ‘likes’ & ‘shares’ on Facebook as well as their monetary support. Moral relativism at it’s best – invisible children indeed!

Mr. Bunny`s tail is made from one of the painted squares in the challenge bag.

And I was also thinking about the kerfuffle with the United Nations several years ago with respect to the fact that their “universal” human rights were objectively Western. I mean, “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms” sounds awesome and every single one of us in the West can get behind that statement with a hearty “Goooooooo West!”; but said statement is a subject of continued and ongoing objections from non-Western countries, and with good reason - because how can universal human rights even exist, in such a culturally diverse world?

Japanese paper for the inner ears.

And just who are we in the West to point fingers and say “Bad dog!” when American women’s right to have control over their own bodies (in 2012!) is a topic up for debate on the US national stage right now? Cultural relativism – how you disturb me.

So… no matter what y/our stand is on the West’s involvement in Ugandan civil war/the pursuit of Kony: or whether your personal belief is that a bunch of men should get to decide for women in the US that they ought not to have access to birth control without having their right to privacy and their personal dignity invaded; and that their employer should get to be the one who makes that decision for her, or whether you believe that some wrongs are less wrong when they are done in the pursuit of a “greater” right;

Wings are gold leather turned backwards for the suede - with some of the beige japanese paper for the design

...the pervasive question that covers it all, is: Is it all right that one group’s morality carries the day for all groups? And who knows if we can agree on the answer to that question? But I’m quite sure the one thing we can all agree on, is that these are deep thoughts for a flying (?) bunny!

But that’s the funny thing. Sometimes when artists create something – even something as whimsical as a flying bunny in a fantastical fairy-tale looking world – there is actually some rather serious thinking going on behind it. And sometimes, the incongruity of a flying rabbit seems the perfect vehicle to carry that mental turbulence.