PAnon associates present:
In the Night Garden
Paintings by Paul Stanley, Wildlife Artist
22nd April - 19th May 2024
Stairwell Gallery
In The Night Garden: a TV programme for pre-school children, using invented creatures and made-up language, representing the space between wakefulness and sleep.
Gethsemane (aka the night garden): where Jesus was betrayed and arrested just after midnight, leading to his brutal crucifixion.
Children are almost always captivated by living, moving organisms - animals, birds, insects, people - in both fear and delight. Why does the delight often fade, at best to amusement or indifference, at worst to contempt, even sadism?
Human beings have always had a changing relationship with animals. In different times and places on earth, various forms of life have been feared, venerated, killed, bred, nurtured, sacrificed, abused, anthropomorphised, ridden, enslaved, pampered, gambled-over, hunted-for-pleasure, domesticated, trained, traded, trusted, tricked, and, of course, eaten.
They have even been loved, maybe.
Listing the physical elements (organs etc) of a human reveals the extraordinary commonality with most other animals to greater or lesser degrees. And, observing any living thing without preconception or intent, reveals its extraordinary complexity. Accumulated knowledge and ever-advancing technology allow us to see and understand all living organisms in great depth.
Why then, are we so often bored and indifferent to creatures and their fates?