Madison Hunn - 2024

Artist's Statement

I initially decided to work on a collage that had something to do with biodiversity. A couple weeks after deciding that, I was driving home from Preston and in between Hyde Park and Logan, I drove upon a scene that made me very angry. The car in front of me swerved, causing me to swerve as well. To my surprise, there was a large buck sitting in the middle of the lane, blood on the top of its head, big eyes staring forward…peacefully. How could someone hit this animal and leave them there in the middle of the highway like that? People are so out of touch with life that leaving a living creature there is a sinless act. I was angry, and I cried for that poor creature. There was no dead animal on the side of the road the next day, so I would like to believe that they got up and ran away.

Because of that, I have somewhat altered my initial work into another. It pokes at the question: “Does the deer cross the street or does the street cross the forest?” Doing this, I cut my childhood home in half, placing a road through it. I did attempt to try to recreate the scene I saw, but could not seem to recreate it and give it justice. The little poem on the work reads, “There is no returning home. There is no filling this hole.”

I just think there is an interesting commentary when we think of our urbanization. Especially thinking of the animals that live in our mountains nearby, and the roads we have paved through their homes. I wonder how we would feel if suddenly there was a road paved through our home. Things like this are seemingly permanent. We will not remove our roads for these animals and instead find alternatives, like wildlife overpasses and wildlife crossing signs.