Michele Beevors' knitting communicates her concern for animals.
Comparing teeth fossils revealed that the mammoth and the mastodon were different species from each other as well as different from modern elephants. This contributed to our understanding that animal species can and do become extinct. The mammoth and the mastodon have been followed into extinction by many more species, and others are now endangered.
Michele Beevors, a Senior Lecturer in the Dunedin School of Art, is disturbed by the increasing rate of animal extinctions. She has explored her care for animals' fate through her art research practice: Michele Beevors renders her careful observation of animal skeletons with knitting to create a type of slow drawing, which is sculptural. Her skeletons are supported by a bolted armature under the knitting.
Knitting carries a legacy of warmth and care, so the dissonance in the combination of knitting and skeletons sets up a lament, a mourning for the passing of animals. Including knitted human skeletons alongside the animals' confirms that we're all in this together - there is a mourning also for our own role in this. Her work is a timely reminder of the potential implications of catastrophic climate change. Michele Beevors exhibits her work nationally and internationally.
Image credit: Michele Beevors, used with permission