Devoting the Wild

In my drawing class we read Sarah O’Brien’s essay “Why Look at Dead Animals.” The main idea that stayed with me was that the death of animals doesn’t carry the same kind of taboo as human death, because we tend to see animals as toys, objects, or cartoons rather than as living beings. Because of this, they’ve often been used to represent human suffering.

This drawing is one of the “ridiculous” scenarios I imagined in order to describe my toxic past relationship without using words. While the human figure is often used to interpret pain, I also connected animals to violence and abuse. The piece reflects how devotion can be tied to violence, creating fantasies of love that grow out of manipulation.