Striped Hyena
2005, water color by Rankin Renwick
included in the Dissappearing Book by Melody Owen
This book attempts to address the marvelous nature of the many things* that are disappearing from the world while simultaneously celebrating the work of colleagues I admire.
As there are so very many things, and they are disappearing at such an alarming rate, it was difficult to know where to begin. My approach was to gather a random collection of species from the 2004 red list (a comprehensive site categorizing endangered and vulnerable plants and animals) and present this much smaller list to an invited group of artists and writers, asking them to explore whichever topic they liked in whatever manner they deemed appropriate.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg (which is also disappearing by the way). The idea is not so much to educate, rather to simply consider some of these things because they exist right now and in the future they might not, and we might miss them. Some day we may have trouble imagining they ever existed at all.
things* : plants, animals, trees, clean air, clean water, oil, rain forest, languages, etc.
Thank you.
Melody Owen (2005)