Humans possess an intense and beautiful relationship with death, love and animals. The bond between the three is strong, but often unspoken. This has been the point of departure for my work. I believe that the marriage between an individual and animals is strange, close and complex; be it with a pet, a childhood mascot, the birds in the sky or the meat on their plate.
Working with film has allowed me to explore these ideas, combining different visual and audio elements into one piece. I take naturalistic footage of animals which is then cut and pasted together to form a poetic portrait of nature, domesticity and dominion. Voiceovers – often of a contrasting or seemingly contradictory tone - are layered on top to piece together the underlying visual narrative, although much of this is left for the viewer to determine for themselves.
Large scale sculptural pieces or installations often accompany these film works. It is my intention to use these physical objects to enhance and heighten the emotive essence of the pieces, rather than to add any further narrative to the work. For these pieces the form of the human memorial is enlarged and exaggerated and dedicated to dead pets, road kill, and the victims of the slaughterhouse. There is a gentle sincerity to this action which prevents the work from becoming twee or humorous, while at the same time retaining a dark honesty in terms of the human imagery associated with such memorials.
The interchangeable relationship between our significance and insignificance on this planet remains at the forefront of my work and motivates me to recognise the subtlety and fragility of existence. This is achieved through amplifying, distorting and subverting personal idiosyncrasies into poetic commentaries.
For The Animals
Installation, Fake, dried and fresh flowers.
To The Animals
Film, 7minutes29seconds
(C) Toby Oliver Dean 2011
All images with thanks to Siobhan Belingy.
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