Hovering Close to Zero

In 1936, the last captive Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) a carnivorous marsupial, died in the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The only remaining images of a live Tasmanian tiger are preserved in a small collection of still photographs and about 60 seconds of film from the 1920’s.

This installation was inspired by the Thylacine’s disappearance and the rich mythology that has emerged from its loss. 

With the aid of computer technology, I  “recovered” the animal from the aging film by feeding film stills into a digital modeling process.  This resulted in the stills being transformed into three-dimensional models. Since the computer does not discern between the tiger and flaws in the film, the flaws were modeled as well.  As a result, the tiger is fused with its shadow and/or cage in each of the models. Interspersed among the resin computer models are a series of cast crystal Tasmanian tiger skulls.