Carmen Mahave

Interested in how I made this? Check out my Instagram @slug.fruit for progress and process videos!

Canichiroptalus looks into the human-centric notions of identity, empathy, and the complexities surrounding the 'Othered' body within social constructs. By challenging normative expectations of the body and blurring the boundaries between human and non-human, familiar and unsettling, this imposing and monstrous figure explores the politics of evolutionary biology, utilizing the framework of 'becoming-with' to facilitate dialogue about colonial, feminist, and queer perspectives on the body. Her form, inspired by elements of the bison, the bulldog, and the bitch in heat, illuminates how evolutionary conflict and external politics physically manifest in the body, revealing the repercussions of external control. Canichiroptalus emerges not as a static representation, but as a dynamic entity engaged in dialogue with her environment and audience. She prompts dialogue about the dynamics of care, control, empathy, and harm for the marginalized and abjected representations of the Other.