The Human Animal

Fascinated by psychology and social behavior, I developed The Human Animal, a series of six paintings that explore instincts and the primal self. Also inspired by film and storytelling, I created the the paintings to include narrative structure (an introduction, climax, and resolution). 

Throughout the series I juxtapose humans and animals. As an allegory, animals represent aspects of purest form of intuition or fight or flight, represent the irrational or primordial brain. In the third panel, a group of figures gesture towards something. Like a classical frieze, they are situated in front of a wall, a visual metaphor for division—to both keep out and protect those within. In the fifth panel I introduce Anubis, the ancient Egyptian mythological character who weighs the scales of justice for the recently departed. In this painting, he is depicted through th ereflection in a mirror, to suggest the illusionary aspect of story. The final scene includes two figures that seem to be consumed by large bones or a gaping mouth. The mouth symbolizes the mythological creature Ammit. In ancient myth, when Anubis weighs a human heart on the scales, and if too heavy, he directs Ammit to consume them