inspired by the ""golden"" prizes at international film festivals eg. Golden Lion (Venice), Golden Bear (Berlin). It's interesting to me how humans assign different symbolic meanings and value hierarchies to animals. Other examples are how animals are adopted as national symbols, used on currencies, or adopted as sports mascots.
● inspired by film festival awards which are often named after animals — why “The Golden Bear” and “The Golden Lion” and not other animals?
● What values do we as humans ascribe to animals for our own purposes? Eg. Ferocity, courage, power ... not slowness (like a sloth), softness (like a slug), ability to change one’s perspective (like a flounder fish), etc
● Composition, colour and the “visual language” making reference to certificates, stage lighting and spotlights, the red carpet, theme parks / circuses
● inspired by a (fun, imaginative, ridiculous) conversation with friends of the artist
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