Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
The next time you drive by a dead animal on the side of the road, take a closer look. It might just be wearing a purple dress, a green vest or have its "nails" painted. About three weeks ago, Jessica May, who just completed her first year of graduate studies in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville art and design program, started dressing roadkill in pet and baby clothes to catch people's attention near campus. The 24-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., said the idea stemmed from a year's worth of work dealing with nature. She said she was interested to see whether people would give more thought to the "wild animals" if they were personified by being dressed in human attire, such as a Polo from Baby Gap. Although she has dressed, and given some manicures, to three raccoons and three possums, she said she is not trying to make a political statement: "I'm not trying to be any sort of militant activist for animals' rights or anything like that."
The article includes a photo of Ms. May crouched on the side of a road, spraypainting a deer carcass gold. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't include enough of the deer for me to judge its aesthetic merit, but in general terms, I give it my seal of approval.
(thanks, Kirsten!)
I would really suggest she wear gloves, at the very least, for all those lice, etc. jumping off their newly-dead hosts.
Posted by: just john at May 7, 2007 10:06 PMMay, a 2006 graduate of Purdue University, delicately approaches her subjects: "I wear gloves. I don't know that I could touch it with my bare hands, because by the time I find them, they're pretty far gone," she said.
Though she appears gloveless during the deerpainting. Maybe only if she's dressing them.
Posted by: apostropher at May 7, 2007 10:10 PMHmm interesting.
But what do you do if you see Buddha on the side of the road? :+)
Posted by: Jon at May 7, 2007 10:47 PMLet's not forget the classic of the road-kill genre.
Posted by: Jesus McQueen at May 8, 2007 12:26 AM