Rewilding

The idea of “rewilding” in the conservation community involves both reintroducing species that have recently vanished from an area and reviving extinct species for later release. As a scientist, I’m interested in the ecological ramifications of these efforts, especially when it comes to the wildlife-urban interface and human-wildlife interactions. Where will these species go if/when we are able to revive them, especially as our urban areas continue to sprawl? 

In concert with these conflicts, I find it fascinating how humans continue to culturally depict wildlife and other living things in the very places that may have displaced these creatures in the first place. We use plants and animals as icons and in logos, and adorn our concrete structures with their likenesses. Sometimes we depict local creatures that historically inhabited these places; at other times, we take liberties and show animals from afar for purely aesthetic reasons. 

I collect these images of “urban rewilding” to explore our relationships with nature. We both desire to keep “nature” at bay in cities, but also can’t live without being surrounded by our own sanitized depictions of the natural world.