Circle of Animal: Standing Witness for the Sentient Wild
Photo by Sharon K. Schafer, Desert Bighorn Sheep, 48” × 38” photograph, © S.K. Schafer
By Sharon K. Schafer
My interest in the magic and mystery of the natural world lies at the intersection of art and science. As a wildlife biologist by education and an artist and photographer by passion, I endeavor to work at the confluence of these disciplines to create images that open hearts and minds to the life and landscapes of the world’s wild places.
“We patronize them [animals] for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err.
For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Henry Beston
The Outermost House (1928)
Inspired by Beston’s quote, I created my recent show, Circle of Animal: Standing Witness for the Sentient Wild, as an effort to reintroduce others to the more-than-human world by providing a space to contemplate our relationship and responsibility to the life with which we share the planet.
Photo by Sharon K. Schafer, The Clock Takes Loud, 28” × 40” photograph, © S.K. Schafer
We are estranged from Nature, possessed by a blinding bias of speciesism that interferes with our ability to connect, communicate, and empathize with our planet. Most people see the world as invincible, possessing unlimited potential. Few hear earth’s frantic pleas from the razor’s edge. Such cries are left to the scientists and artists to hear and interpret. My images and text panels encourage the viewer to step away from our intricate artifact of civilization and pause to reconsider their place in the natural world. It is my hope that, in this space, they can reexamine their assumptions and question how we relate to and affect it.
Photo by Sharon K. Schafer, Fragmentation, 36” × 36” photograph, © S.K. Schafer
We stand apart, a drifting coiled thread turned in on itself, having lost connection to the fabric of our animate earth. Too often our powerful cleverness seduces us into believing we possess a certain specialness and destiny that secures our independence from the reciprocal nature of our world. With this illusionary sense of separation, we deceive ourselves into believing we have been given the independent power and right to dominate and claim dominion to satisfy our every hunger with impunity.
These images are messages from the edge, warnings of our growing estrangement with the world and the desperate need to recognize and accept our place in nature. They are an attempt to awaken people to our false sense of separation from our world and reveal its dire consequences.
These photographs are a reminder that humanity’s deepest fear is not that we are separate from nature, but rather that we are a part of it.
Photo courtesy of Sharon Schafer, © M Rees
Sharon K. Schafer has a varied background ranging from painter and photographer, to wildlife biologist and river guide. Now as a full-time artist, she combines two loves — Nature and Art. Schafer is a signature member of both the international Society of Animal Artists and Artists for Conservation. Schafer’s interest in combining art and science led her to found Skydance Studio and she has dedicated herself to the creation of images that promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of the beauty and diversity of the natural world. Schafer has worked throughout Nevada, and her curiosity has taken her to every continent and to the very ends of the earth.
Circle of Animal is on display at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, 1017 South 1st Street, #190 in Las Vegas from October 3 through November 26, 2024. This exhibition is presented by Nevada Humanities and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is supported in part by the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the state of Nevada.