CaitlinHackett

My love for animals and nature has shaped my art since I first put pencil to paper, as has my love of mythology. Both tell a story of dramatic, often violent change.
There are gods who transform into beasts, or who were born with the heads of animals, and there are gods who cursed humans to take on animal or plant forms as punishment. Mirroring those ancient myths in often grotesque ways we find in contemporary times that animals are being transformed against their will due to interactions with human pollutants, as well as animal testing, deforestation, the draining of wetlands, and the hunting of endangered species. I am interested in the power of these mutations both for their mythological echoes and their dire environmental implications.

Although I had long intended to go to school for wildlife biology I wound up choosing to study fine art at Pratt Institute, where I graduated from the Fine Art department with my BFA. Although I now live and work in Oakland CA, it is the remote mountains and oceans of my childhood that are echoed in my work, my love for the natural world and fear for its loss. As humanity encroaches ever further upon the remnants of wilderness left in the world I hope to allow some sense of wilderness to encroach back upon those people who view my work.