Bestiary Collective Opens "Animals, Lost Stories" Exhibit at South Broadway Cultural Center
June 8, 2023 - The Bestiary Collective, comprised of four Albuquerque-based artists and animal rights advocates, Angela Casagrande, David D’Agostino, Mark Dyke, and Dan Fuller, is dedicated to revealing the trauma and tenacious survival of non-human species, specifically the pathos experienced by animals lost in the never-land of lost habitats, technological advance and ever-increasing anthropogenic diseases, like brain worm and other fatal pathogens.
Together they combined bronze and clay sculptures, photo dioramas, collage, and painting to produce the exhibit, Animals, Lost Stories, which opens today, June 8 at the South Broadway Cultural Center with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
Unlike many New Mexico artists who tend to portray animals as majestic, healthy beasts, David D’Agostino’s diorama photography in collaboration with Mark Dyke reveals the physical and psychological pain suffered by animals infected by chronic disease like brain worm, wasting or "‘zombie disease," tick overload, and wildfire induced starvation.
Artist Mark Dyke and his wife, Jen Barol, foster neonatal shelter kittens and puppies. Over the past 10 years, they have shared the joy of nursing hundreds of sick animals to health, the grief of watching sick ones die, and the heart wrench of watching the animals leave for their adoptive homes.
“Through my mixed media approach, I encourage viewers to contemplate their own ecological footprint and the role they can play in helping to restore fish populations and preserve the cultural heritage of local communities," said artist Angela Casagrande.
Artist Dan Fuller said, “For this exhibit I’m showing works that deal with coming to terms with the certainty that a world I knew from an early age will no longer be available in the future."
Together the Bestiary Collective hopes to instill compassion for the suffering of species attempting to survive this bewildering world, and to take action for habitat protection by recognizing that animals deserve the same justice as humans do.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The exhibition is on view through July 7.