Horses have always been part of the roots of our civilization. From early ages, ancient artists have chosen horses as the main theme of their art. According to Colin Barras, horses were the “most commonly depicted animals in Eurasian cave art.” As their use for transportation spread, horses reformed the environment, social structure and economy of every place they lived. Only industrialization has had the same lasting effect horses had on humans and the environment. Because of the major impact that horses have had in shaping our human lives, understanding how horses live is a key process in understanding the world we live in. To put it another way, horses have been the soil of human civilization. Soil is composed of natural gasses, minerals and organic matter that provide nutrients to our society. Soil has supported humans in every way possible from providing food to helping physically build our civilization.
I saw the parallelism between the horses and the soil in the way it has helped shape our civilization and life. In this artwork I made the bones of the horse with wood. The wood represents the organic and natural aspect of the body, while the bone represents the structure and strength of the core. The combination of both shares the reliance and strength and furthermore shares a connection to nature and life. I then made the most important parts of the horse such as hooves, ears and tails with different sizes of a triangular prism. The triangular prism symbolizes the soil texture triangle in environmental science that identifies silt, sand and clay. The prisms are a metaphor for the horses’ connection to nature and earth, sharing not only a dependence on soil for survival, but the complex natural systems that support all living things.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Mixed media | Size: 75x42x23 (inch)
Structure
The three posters were created based on the structure of the tree that makes up the body of the horse. Through this structure, the horse can connect with the ground, the foundation of life, and reveal the power we have to live on that ground.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Mixed media | Size: 11x17 (inch)
I have had an intimate relationship with horses for the many years. On the surface, it may seem like I am giving them my energy without expecting anything in return. However, my unsolicited giving is a great source of life for me. In other words, the joy they give me in exchange for my hard work is a much greater reward. My return for their invisible, but grateful, energy is a formal treat.
This table reveals a meal cooked and set for horses. This table reveals a meal cooked and set for horses. The carrots are a collage all the technology that help support our lives: wheelchairs, pacemakers, prosthetic fingers and more. I wanted to use it as a metaphor to share the efforts and backbone that I have become to the horses, while also giving my thanks back to them as a feast.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Acrylic painting on wood | Size: 44x30 (inch)
This is an artwork from the ‘Feast of Life’ series. In order to express the mutually symbiotic relationship between horses and myself, images of devices that provide physical and mental help to human life were used as visual metaphors in the background. They are expressed visually by being revealed in the image of carrots, the horse’s favorite food.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Digital tool | Size: 11x17 (inch)
Equinox
I tried to explore the unspoken connection that humans and animals can form. I visually merged my own face with that of a horse to reflect the emotional and spiritual meaning that horses have to me. Horses represent companionship and communication free from the complex human interactions. The symmetry symbolizes the balance between the two that operate differently but still coexist. The intertwining in the background links the complexity that both humans and horses face in society. The complex pattern in the clothes represents the complexity in human life compared to the simple purity found in animals.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Mixed media | Size: 28x17 (inch)
I examined the tension between technology’s imminency with long sustained human life. The photo that is printed from the polaroid camera, which is printed in an instant, reveal fragmented elements coming out of the distracted face. The distracted face shares an identity and speaks to my central theme of memory, recognition and nature. The camera lens represents my perception while the horse shares my connection to nature. I try to raise the question about what it truly means to “see” in the world where images are manufactured in minutes. In this piece, I try to urge the viewers to slow down and engage more meaningfully with the world that is close to us.
Year: 2024 | Medium: Mixed media | Size: 28x22 (inch)
The photos share the equestrian community that I have created and am part of. We work tirelessly every day, from cleaning the stables to feeding the horses on the planes. We try our best to provide a comfortable life to the horses. The workers and our hearts that share a common goal is what makes this community so strong.
Year: 2023 | Medium: Photography | Size: 653x498 (px)