Dinner Party

Pen and Pencil on Paper.

Thinking of the prompt “curiosity of nature,” the first thing that comes to mind for me is rats. I’ve recently developed a mild obsession with rats, so I used this opportunity to explore what exactly draws me to them. Rat’s in the media are often characterized as dirty, clever, tricky, and resourceful, all of those things I feel I relate to. As I was brainstorming ideas and thinking about rats I came to the realization that what most impresses me about rats is their ability to survive. It's almost comical how we humans continue to cover up nature with concrete urban infrastructure, and the rats survive; even better than survive, they thrive. To me, It represents nature's resilience to adapt and evolve no matter how it is smothered by humans. 

In this piece I have tried to create a sort of a metaphorical scene. A girl is lying dead on the floor while the rats devour her. I’d like to think that this piece holds a few meanings. For one, It shows the reality of nature. The lack of compassion expressed by the rats for the dead girl as they copulate on top of her dead body shows that mother nature knows only survival of the fittest. Another meaning I hope to express here is almost vengeful. I feel we as humans hold rats at such a low standard and believe them to be pests who don't belong on the streets or in our houses, when yet the rats have probably existed off the land much before we put the concrete down. I wanted to empower the rats in this piece as the main characters, taking care of an intruder in their habitat.

I feel as though the piece holds a little bit of a comical aspect to it and I hope that instead of taking away from the underlying meaning I am trying to express here, it just gives a little bit of relief to the viewer.