Præy

Præy

Plaster cast in silicone and plaster mother mold painted with Black 3.0 Acrylic

12 × 12 × 14 inches

2022

Præy represents fawning, a term coined for appeasement and coregulation tactics that are innately formed in the face of danger. In this case, the response is to religious trauma. The title is play on words using the ligature of a and e to combine the concepts of pray and prey. To entreat, implore, to plea, is to pray. To be hunted, is to be prey.

The work depicts a man’s face bulging from within the maw of a wolf, overtaken by fear. Entirely coated in velvety matte black paint, the two creatures become intertwined, a sculpture that is both monologue and dialogue, inner turmoil and external response. When sanctuaries becomes unsafe, fear, adrenaline, and innate fight or flight responses like fawning can be triggered. These natural responses are base, primal qualities, that override us as survival instincts outweigh civility and social construct. The relationship of the snarling wolf to the engulfed man is emblematic of both the man’s persecution and the primal urges that he acts upon in the face of this perceived danger.