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Mira Me...
Media Overlord and Data Serf Installation
(video of uncaged animals | cage of technology)

This 2016 exhibit begins with a simple frame representing the 21c cage of cyber communication, where under the guise of freedom we become tethered fodder for a distant corporate overlord.
In her statement below, the artist invites contemplation on what it means to be 'free or caged' with her videos and photos of animals roaming the savannah.




Old Lion 2016
Archival Print (20"x30"/50.8x76.2)

"All animals share a singular finite existence, sensed, known or imposed.








(Old Lion dying, alone)


Young Leopard 2016
Archival Print (20"x30"/50.8x76.2)

In South Africa's savannah, animals roam familiar and foreign terrain, alone or communally, in search of water, food, mate and kin.




(Young Leopard on prowl, alone)


Young Lionesses at Dawn 2016
Archival Print (8"x10"/20.3x25.4)


With hearts uncaged they face extinction with dignity or ferocity, as circumstances demand or allow.





(Tawny and White Lionesses stroll with their pride)

Elephant Family 2016
Archival Print (8"x10"/20.3x25.4)

The human animal has become accustomed to roaming alone, without benefit of physicality, inside perpetual virtual cells.





(Elephant and curious newborn feed with their herd)

Meerkat family at Dawn 2016
Archival Print (8"x10"/20.3x25.4)

Domesticated by consumerism and tethered to social media's promise of mate or community, [we are] paralyzed by petty joys and enormous injustices alike, as words and images land like baited arrows from distant skies and unseen predators.

(Meerkats scan for predators at dawn before leaving their burrow)

Antelope/Termite 2016
Archival Print (8"x10"/20.3x25.4)

In real time and proximal space, animal to animal, sharing quiet or messy moments, one realizes what is being lost as we cage ourselves in the hollowed shells deemed necessary for others' consumption."



(Impala feeding next to termite mound, ears alert to sound)

all works and images © ruth hartman
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Some images are available in archival limited edition pigment prints. Contact the artist directly for details.