Fauna Automata: British Wild Boar
Residency project in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011
Fauna Automata: British Wild Boar aimed to increase public awareness of the presence of wild boar in the UK, whilst re-evaluating the species as culturally relevant.
The project was realised through an artist's residency in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, during July 2011, where a series of works including video work; works on paper; and wooden mechanical sculptures, explored a once-native British species, that had been absent from our landscape for over 300 years.
The project was supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Forestry Commission England.
Gallery
The project's main body of work were a series of 38 photographs taken by the forest's wild boar using a handful of simple automata, triggered by trip-wires. These wooden mechanical structures, housing disposable cameras, were installed at various sites in the Forest of Dead and enabled these elusive creatures to be documented and revealed.
These purposefully low-tech machines were constructed from wood, glue, rocks and string. The resulting images are grainy, dramatic and often comical portraits of the forest's largest animals. In keeping with the artist's intent to allow chance to influence the outcome of his work, all 38 photographs have been presented below, with minimal editing.
Exhibition
The project culminated in an outdoor exhibition installed inside the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, August 2011.
Photographs from the project were also exhibited at the Science and Media Museum as part of Ways of Looking photography festival, October 2011.
Exhibited at Third Floor, Xiamen, China, 2019
Previous incarnations of the automata were displayed at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, as part of A Horse Walks Into A Bar, 2010
Press
Single Edition Prints
Single edition framed 6 inch photographic prints from the project are available for sale. Each image is produced as a 1/1 original + AP (the artist retains an 'artist's print' for future exhibition use only.)
The photographs are float mounted in a wooden and glass frame measuring 33x24x3cm. For more details please get in touch at contact [at] danielstaincliffe.com
