Publication Date: Friday, December 09, 2005
Hunter, prey and artist
Hunter, prey and artist
(December 09, 2005) Complex Stanford exhibit finds grief, resilience, and even humor in hunting
by Rebecca Wallace
What would you expect from an art exhibit about hunting? Passionate pleas to stop the killing? Splashes of red paint?
The results are far more subtle -- and intricate -- in "When the Hunter Gathers," an exhibit at Stanford University's department of art and art history. With mixed emotions, artist Mary Tsiongas mines the complexities of hunting, finding grief, resilience, a love of the wilderness and even humor.
"I never wanted it to be a judgment on either side," Tsiongas said.
In one digital video piece, "Reawakening," a hand smoothes the gray fur on an animal, as though stroking a pet cat. But there's a sign next to the screen reading "Please touch hand." When the hand is touched, it moves away, revealing a hole in the animal.
In another, "Compulsion to Repeat," speeded-up scenes rush through gory moments of taxidermists working with dead animals. And then the video becomes slow motion, and close-ups show human hands moving gently, almost caringly, over furry heads and bodies. A small taxidermy mannequin, pale and hairless, is seated in front of the screen watching the video.
The works can provoke strong emotion, and Tsiongas said the process of creating them often caused her grief.
The feeling was not just for the animals, but also for a way of life. Hunting is less common nowadays -- and so is a strong human connection with the wilderness, she said. Disappearing hunting grounds also mean disappearing pristine lands.
"Hunters are among the few people who have maintained an intimacy with the diminishing wilderness," Tsiongas wrote in a statement posted with her work in the elegant, pocket-sized Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery.
It would probably be odd if Tsiongas' digital videos, sculptures, light boxes and photography didn't show some mixed feelings on the matter of hunting.
A former Bay Area resident who is now an assistant professor in electronic arts at the University of New Mexico, she has environmentalist leanings. But her connections to hunting run deep.
Tsiongas spent her early childhood in rural Greece, where her grandfather and father often brought home the fruits of their hunting for pelts or for the dinner table. Tsiongas' grandfather spoke of tracking the animals, admiring their cunning. He also respected such rules as the prohibition on hunting deer, she said, recounting one story:
One day her grandfather heard gunshots and a deer ran right into his arms. After a startled moment, the animal bolted away. When other hunters ran up asking whether he had seen the deer, he lied and said he hadn't.
"It was a magical story that stayed with me for years," Tsiongas said.
An interest in hunting also remained, and about four years ago she began interviewing other hunters. She was surprised to find many championing the environment. They wanted to be able to keep hunting animals in their natural habitat.
On the Internet and in hunting videos she found scenes "of seeming tenderness" alongside images of triumph. Many are in her digital video work: there are hunters "cradling" the heads of their dead, as well as others raising them for trophy shots, she said.
In another digital video, "Shoot," Tsiongas fires arrows directly into the camera. Cars rush by, and occasionally an arrow makes a loud thwack as it hits home.
The piece could be chilling, but it is more complex than just hunter and prey, said Gail Wight, an assistant professor in studio art at Stanford.
"She looks so vulnerable shooting," Wight said. "She's not quite taking aim and shooting in that classic confident pose of an archer. She has a student's pose."
Wight, who is on the gallery committee and has known Tsiongas for many years, said her work was chosen for a Stanford exhibit partly because it complements art classes being taught. Current topics include digital arts and video, and Wight will teach a class on art and biology in the spring.
Wight found herself moved to tears by the photography in "When the Hunter Gathers." Each of the four images combines a photo of Tsiongas with one of a commonly hunted animal. The photos are interwoven to create concentric circles that look like targets.
"They talk about placing kinship in a target mentality," Wight said. "You are a target, and you're killing something that you identify with so closely."
Tsiongas, though, said she also finds the pieces funny. In the photos she's trying to mimic the facial expressions of the animals, from coy coyote to proud bighorn sheep. Viewers look long and hard to see where the animal ends and the human begins.
Tsiongas also believes the piece in the center of the exhibit has a hopeful note. Called "Hind Sight," it's a foam taxidermy mannequin of a deer drinking from a black pond studded with arrows. To some, the deer seems ghostly and exposed, especially since the mannequin has no fur, tail or ears.
The artist, though, sees a moment in time just after the arrows were fired, just before the deer runs off.
"It's invincible," she said of the deer. "There's a shower of arrows, but they've completely missed it."
What: "When the Hunter Gathers," an exhibit of works by Mary Tsiongas
Where: Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, 419 Lasuen Mall, Stanford University
When: Through Dec. 15. The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.
Cost: Free.
Info: Call (650) 723-3404 or go to art.stanford.edu.
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