Mark Davies

This piece was born from the idea of isolation due to the current global pandemic, the Medias reporting on the situation, social panic and my own mental state throughout this crisis. As we were told to stay inside and away from human contact the constant and rampant media circus made it sound that to leave our homes would lead to certain infection and death. The Unimaginable Foe (my own term for COVID19) is being represented here by the German forces and their use of a manufactured and bio-engineered dinosaur tank. This is an utterly ridiculous concept as are their actions of invading the weak and defenseless rabbits.

The shape of the diorama base has been designed as a hexagon to mimic the strategy war games I played growing up and returned to in isolation, this strategic concept plays off the government’s actions being laid out in a series of stages, a campaign of war to fight back against the virus. The use of rabbits as those being invaded was chosen as they are along with rats often used for medical testing and they are gentle and a weak creature that’s only real defense is to run and hide. The idea of outside is certain death is represented by the lone rabbit caught unaware and riddled with bullet holes. This piece is meant to be a lighthearted and whimsical reaction to my own anxieties and the process of building such a time consuming project was a form of therapy used to distract myself from the lonely and fearful time this year 2020 has been so far.

Acrylic Paint, Plaster, Polymer Clay, Plastic Models, Polystyrene
32 x 32 x 24 (cm)