The Fragile Circus
The Fragile Circus is the artist's response to his observations of tourists mistreating animals in his hometown, a Canadian resort town known for its natural beauty. The animals in this Flash animation are frightening circus attractions who the viewer must prod in order to elicit a performance.
Living in a resort town, you're exposed to nature in a very un-natural way: a sense of the familiar in the unfamiliar. The wild is on display here. It is a performance and the animals are the celebrities. Tourists, like paparazzi, steal snapshots of grizzly bears and parents actually try to ride their kids on the backs of elk grazing through garbage. It’s Alberta's own little freak show where land and creature are passively held captive.
Because of this engagement, I see nature and its inhabitants with emotions that fit into our social conditioning. Since they are so closely exposed to our society, they are at once creatures of the wild and slaves of our misgivings. The characters in The Fragile Circus are personified and narratives have been injected. They are placed in very human situations that, at a glance, can be somewhat entertaining, yet on a deeper level can harbor very tragic feelings.
The user plays the role of the intruding tourist - poking and prodding the creatures with attention, forcing them to perform.