Release

Live animals, ink, paper, video 2016-2020

Release is a body of work inspired by the Buddhist practice of 'life release' or ‘compassionate release‘, which sees captive animals bought and released into the wild.

Ink and paper are used to document the moment of the animals’ release. This use of materials gives the animals a means of physically expressing their demands to freedom; creating corporal statements that give the viewer opportunity to reconcile the plight of such animals with our humanity. The resulting ‘prints’ are unique records of movement, life and compassion.

To ensure the project's practices are as ecological and ethically sound as possible, and to avoid the phenomenon of 'death release' (放死), the project developed the following guidelines:

• Only release native animals to avoid disrupting the local ecology

• Only release animals captured from the wild, to ensure the animals have the necessary survival skills

• Only release to suitable natural environments where the animals will be able to survive

• Only use a small amount of non-toxic ink

• Only use a particular market or seller once, to avoid continued monetary support of their trade