The animals used in medical trials are called animal “models”. This word is convenient for us, it strips away the individuality and personal suffering of each animal. These animals are merely there to model homo sapiens. If the animal survives the proposition, the trial can move on to human subjects.

Perhaps my family members are my animal models.  Paintings are set-ups, pared down and controlled spaces into which the models are placed, vivariums, enclosed glass cages in which we can observe ourselves. My family, my animal models, embody what it is to be human. I am always surprised they remain prepared to subject themselves to my demonstrations.

In this vivarium my older son and his partner are crammed into a small area. Feed and hydration are present. The illusion of space, provided by a random sunset landscape on a screen, mostly hides the actual view through the window, where the moon can be glimpsed. Thus day and night are intertwined.

Needs met, we are divorced from the diurnal cycle. Our social fabric is wrapped, atom-thin, around the whole globe.  Our media plunges us into fantasy, while out there, all is not as it should be.  And yet we continue to trust, we continue to love.

-Deborah Poynton