GALLERY: Art exhibition showcases the relationship between humans and animals

Artist Bonita Alice recently hosted an art exhibition entitled Strangers Of Commanding Aspect at the Art of Paper (AOP) Gallery  at 44 on Stanley in Milpark. Members of the art community gathered at the opening to admire the work done by Alice.

The theme surrounding her work involved the interpretation of animals and how animals are humanised. Alice shared the main thoughts behind her latest works of art. “The focus of my thinking is the idea that a habitual emotional denial makes it possible for us to commit systematic abuses against non-human animals, and to project onto them as we do,” she said.

Alice continued to explain how the ancient relationship between humans and animals are thematically depicted in her artwork. “Central is the notion that we live in the aftermath of a traumatic betrayal of an ancient relationship, one in which previously, respect was preserved between human and non-human communities despite daily negotiations, around self-preservation and access to resources in a shared environment; a relationship in which other animals were absolutely central to human consciousness, rather than what they have become. Certainly for us in our contemporary urban lives. As John Berger describes them, ‘relics of the past without power’. Apart from the few we have chosen to adore, they have become invisible and inconsequential in our daily experience,” she said.

Independent art historian and critic Yvette Greslé described Alice’s work as beautiful and consistently attentive. “She is attentive in how things are constructed, crafted, and made. In making these paintings, acrylic paint on wooden panels, she departs from the dust work, which similarly explored ambiguity and blurry borders between the human and its non-human others,” she said.

Alice’s art work is currently on display until 9 May.