Dana Sherwood's video, Feral Cakes, as well her drawings,
sculpture, and photographs are also on view in the Digestive
Systems exhibit. For her work, the artist creates elaborate
tabletop tableaus that reference historical still life paintings and
children's make-believe tea parties simultaneously. However,
these elaborately decorative feasts are made not for human
consumption, but rather for the artist's non-human neighbors'
nourishment and enjoyment. Thus, these nature morte scenes
do not remain inanimate for long. Filming in her backyard and
other liminal sites where human and non-human animals already
share (and/or compete for) spatial and nutritional resources,
Sherwood employs a combination of fantasy and improvisation
to emphasize human kinship with animals. Sherwood's setups
are "a tool to understand culture and behavior and more
importantly to recognize that we are not separate from nature
and the ecosystem." Rooting her work in scientific research,
Sherwood embraces her animal neighbors as individually agent
collaborators who often behave in ways she cannot control or
predict. Her humorous videos draw a crowd and—unusually
for wall mounted media work—viewers stand together to watch
and discuss the work from start to finish, cultivating further
the interrelation amongst humans and between species.
Sherwood's self-described magical-realism is additionally
advanced in her intimate watercolor illustrations that whimsically
depict her animal neighbors' carousals complete with sausage
party banners and shrimp topped cakes. Finally, Sherwood
accentuates the shared human/animal space by bringing
Crossing the Wild Line, a resin facsimile of a food cart feast, into
the gallery.
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