SciArt Magazine - All Issues February 2016 | Page 16

Crossing the Wild Line (detail) (2015). 70” x 64” x 22” . Video, monitor,
books, glassware, aluminum, cooking implements, wood, varnish, resin,
acrylic and sausage casings. Image courtesy of the artist.

significantly altered by human activities. How does straddling
such tropes like ‘man versus nature’ influence your work? How
did this concept directly impact your work for this exhibition,
and your work in general?
DS: I don’t think of my work as ‘man versus nature’
as much as I think about exposing the fact that nature
exists everywhere, right under our noses, even though
it is easy to forget for those of us living in the concrete
jungle. While I love the idea of going into pristine nature and experiencing wildlife in its ideal environment, I
am more interested in examining how nature has evolved
in the anthropocene—which means looking at disturbed
territory and uncovering how nature flourishes in those
places.
Raccoons are my favorite subjects because they have
really figured out how to thrive in t