White-tailed Deer Research > Reverentia

MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Samuel A. Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY.

Statement

White-tailed deer are ubiquitous in the Ulster County ecosystem, existing now in overabundance. Once treated with reverence as a sustainable food source with potential as craft material, today’s deer population is regarded as suburban pests, and threatens an increasingly fragile forest ecosystem.

Exhibited is a beam for preparing deer hide, and a book made of white-tailed deer. Surrounding these objects are gifts made for the community who taught (and continue teaching) me how we can reengage with traditional practices of “using the whole deer,” despite living in a moment where regaining ecological equilibrium feels like a pipe dream.