ShanghART Gallery 香格纳画廊
中文

Christmas Island Pipistrelle, from the series, Christmas Island, Naturally

In late August 2009 a tiny, solitary bat fluttered about in the rainforest near Australia's infamous Christmas Island detention camp. We don't know precisely what happened to it. Perhaps it landed on a leaf at dawn after a night feeding on moths and mosquitoes, and was torn to pieces by fire ants; perhaps it succumbed to a mounting toxic burden placed on its tiny body by insecticide spraying. Or maybe it was simply worn out with age and ceaseless activity, and died quietly in its tree hollow. But there is one important thing we do know: it was the last Christmas Island Pipistrelle Pipistrellus murrayi. With its passing, an entire species winked out of existence.

F. Tim, ‘Unmourned death of a sole survivor’, Sydney Morning Herald, 2009

Related Exhibitions:
Evidence of Things Not Seen, ShanghART Singapore, Singapore 05.18, 2024 -08.17, 2024
An Opera for Animals, Para Site, Hong Kong 03.22, 2019 -06.09, 2019
The Institute of Critical Zoologists Final Report of the Christmas Island Expert Working Group, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore 03.03, 2018 -04.29, 2018
Zhao Renhui: Christmas Island, Naturally, ShanghART Singapore, Singapore 03.11, 2017 -05.08, 2017
20th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia 03.18, 2016 -06.05, 2016


Related Texts:
War on feral cats: Singaporean artist tackles Christmas Island’s ecological dilemma , Mayo Martin TEXT 2017-03-26