Contemporary art debate that relates to the human subject tends to lean towards augmentation. Many people long to exceed the limits of human physicality through synthetic or medical enhancement. While I can see the advantages this brings, it encourages us to overlook what we already possess - the hidden, astonishing qualities contained within unadulterated bodies. Negating the natural poetics, promotes a sense that we are somehow not quite enough. I find this stance counter-intuitive as it only moves us further away from biological and conscious states that we still hardly understand. My opinion is that we need to re-assert the obvious, yet seemingly forgotten reality that we are in fact animals, albeit highly sophisticated ones.
Defining the human as an animal places this project within wider philosophical topics such as alterity, our relationship to other species, perceived hierarchies, matters of personhood and our ongoing relationship with the natural environment. I am particularly interested in how we define the human subject within legal or scientific frameworks and have established working relationships within artificial intelligence, neurology and the criminal court through my work as a Magistrate. I believe that repositioning the human subject is vital in terms of how we understand behaviour, needs and desires.
The Human Animal some reflections on my work.