Installation

Tray, 2 1/4 x 9 1/2 x 14 1/2″ – Box, 2 x 11 x 7″ – Rabbits on average, 4 3/8″

The project started with the idea of a rabbit with stitches. I liked the first rabbit so much I wanted to make more, so I researched rabbits and hares in mythology and folktales. The rabbit contains many contradictory meanings from Western Europe, throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The rabbit symbolically means ill fortune or luck, rebirth or death, fertility, and represents the moon in many folktales. The rabbit could be considered clever or foolish in turn, as the trickster. As I researched, more rabbits were created. The second rabbit was fabricated somewhat different than number one. This is when I decided to number the rabbits. I had not decided how many to make at this point, just each different from the last. As I was making number two, number three with its differences came to be. From there number three influenced number four (Moongazer) and so on…
While working on number five and six (Sherwood) came the idea of placing them in threes, the browns with the browns, the grays with the grays and so on. Somewhere between number ten and twelve I decided to do number thirteen. Putting them in threes did not seem so important at this point. It seemed that they all belonged together as thirteen rabbits.
The contents of the sketchbook began to include tags, pictures, some drawings, and the research photos that helped with fabrication. This became part of the documentation process. It was around number six or seven (Goblin) that the documentation and the fact that they were rabbits made me think of how things are classified and documented in biology. All thirteen rabbits would have their separate documentation. The process of installation is directly influenced by the documentation of the rabbits with the addition of labels, and a tray with cork for dry dissection. They are being displayed as if they are being put back together; a reverse dissection.