Sasquatch­es
Hair, catholic fig­urines, lichen, foam, clay, coral, paint, pet­ri­fied wood and goo­gly eyes, approx. 9 × 12 × 12 inches
2018

The first in a series of ​“altar­pieces” that won­ders about the pos­si­bil­i­ty of mak­ing ​“sacred” works in an impos­si­bly desacral­ized world. The sasquatch is a cryp­tid root­ed in an ancient mythol­o­gy of half-human, half-ani­mal liv­ing in lim­i­nal wild space, which exists, or has exist­ed at one point or oth­er, across the world:the Wode­wose in Europe, the Yeti in Tibet, the Yowie in Aus­tralia, the Almas in Mon­go­lia, the Orang Pen­dek in Indone­sia, Batu­tut in Viet­nam, the Yeren in Chi­na, the Amomon­go in the Philip­pines, the Bar­manou in Afghanistan and Pak­istan, the Chuchu­naa in Ser­bia, the Basajuan in the Basque, and Am Fear Liath Mòr in Scot­land. I see the phe­nom­e­non of sasquatch sight­ings as one of the last ciphers of hope, con­tin­gent on the con­tin­ued exis­tence of wild space.

Essay by Jamie Hilder →