painting our exploitation of species

Here’s a wonderful series of painting done by artist Isabelle Kirkland. In what first appears to be a traditional discovery-of-the-new-world approach to taxonomically detailing species, Ms Kirkland has instead subverted the tradition to show how we maintain our authority over wildlife. Each painting is set in an easy to use interface. Visitors to the site can zoom into a canvas; this zoom in function allows for quick movement across the extent while retaining the incredible detail of the image. Indeed, one needs the zoom to find some of the individual species. A scrollable species key is provided to the right of the canvas.

Gone illustrates species that we have driven extinct. When you’ve become sufficiently depressed (and after you’ve read the evocative and poignant annotations on some of the eggs), you can scroll through the more uplifting Back.

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