Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus and Gorilla gorilla
Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus and Gorilla gorilla
Red Deer on Jacob’s Ladder, Military Road, Ramsgate. Animal Thanet 2019
‘Jacob’s Ladder is a Grade II Listed flight of stone steps. Built in 1826 by John Shaw. Dog-leg stairs with three flights of steps faced with ashlar and built between flanking towers with rounded fronts of ashlar, each flight of steps with wide central pilaster; centre landings. Iron balustrade. The present stair replaces an earlier wooden flight of c.1750, 100 yards to the east’. Historic England.
Red Deer, Cervus elaphus with local flora.
Stumped: Elephant herd marooned on Dumpton Park Drive
These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us.
A recently removed tree provides a stump as a refuge and island platform for these Elephants marooned above the pavement on Dumpton Park Drive. Habitat loss is a major issue in Elephant conservation. Human population growth means encroachment on wildlife. Loss of trees and forests leaves space for wildlife diminished and in smaller and smaller pockets or ‘island’ reserves. EleAid
A haul-out of Nile Crocodiles – Crocodylus niloticus on Elms Avenue, Ramsgate.
These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us.
Above: Crocodiles haul out by a rainwater pool caught in the tarpaulin of a trailer parked on Elms Avenue.
A walk from Herne Bay to Birchington at Low Tide with two Arabian Oryx and an African Elephant – February 2019
These images are part of the ongoing Animal Thanet project and installation / performance, which considers & reflects wider concerns I have for the natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, trophy hunting, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a real-time catastrophe for the world around us.
Above: Arabian Oryx – Oryx leucoryx at Herne Bay
Above: African Elephant – L. africana at Herne Bay
Above: Views towards Reculver.
Above & Below: Oryx at Minnis Bay
Above & Below: Small tidal sea bathing pool at Minnis Bay
My Garden … May 2018
These images consider & reflect wider concerns for the natural world, particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals, conservation, loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, poaching, extinction and callous exploitation, which holds a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with. The last decade has witnessed the slow & horrible realisation that our negative impact on the planet and particularly our plastic pollution of almost every environment, is a catastrophe for the world around us.
‘Animal Thanet’ exists as a series of images which examine our relationship with the natural world and environment through the use of plastic animals placed in a variety of habitats & scenarios in and around Ramsgate & the Isle of Thanet in Kent.
One of my first recollections as a child was of having a farm with plastic animals. I loved it. I collected these animals throughout my childhood and developed a strong affinity with the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it. When I got married and had a family and child of my own, I started collecting again – particularly after we moved to Ramsgate, Kent – always under the pretence that they were for my daughter Nell ! Living by the coast was like revisiting childhood.
My wider concerns for the natural world, is particularly focussed on the lives of its wild animals. Loss of habitat, diminishing numbers, extinction and callous exploitation hold a mirror to our humanity. We may soon only have plastic versions of our wild neighbours to play with.
This set of images was made on Ramsgate Main Sands and the coastal walk at low tide between Ramsgate and Broadstairs.