Just to recap, I am making
temporary tattoos of the Quagga and Pere David Deer for extinction and endangerment
awareness, with an aphesis on hunting/ poaching/ extermination.
Quagga- Equus quagga quagga
The Quagga became extinct in approximately
1883. Do to competition for grasses for livestock in turn The Quagga was intentionally
exterminated. As of 1987 the “Quagga
project south Africa” founded by Reinhold
Rau is attempting to bring back the Quagga from extinction. Through DNA skin
samples, from the 23 Quagga specimens that exists in institutions around the
world, a process of selective breeding and Mitochondrial DNA splicing is currently underway. Now into
there third generation the results are impressive. Unable to determine the exact
pure Quagga genetic code the boundaries of defining a Quagga is only in its appearance.
The Quagga Project seems to be interested in genetics and how it relates to
pattering but the unignorable question remains why is the project selectivity
breeding this animal? It is true that other types of zebra are endangered if
not extinct and potentially reintroducing dead genes to the pool will broaden
genetic diversity. However, the Quagga Project makes no such statements and makes
it out to be a humanitarian endeavor. I will research further into this story
and let you all know what Quagga dramma I can dig up.
Pere David Deer- milu- (Elaphurus
davidianus)
Original from the sub-tropics
of china the deer only exists in captivity in both china and the united Kingdome.
The deer’s history is long and complex involving hierarchy and peasantry
struggle and illegal exportation. Presently you can find quite a few hunting photos
on line of the deer. Curious to me the dynamic of hunting an animal that is completely
bread in captivity and historically was on the verge of extinction more than
once.
Problems
Thus far I have done
research mostly looking at the narratives surrounding both the Quagga and Pere
David Deer. And have completed the drawings for the tattoos. I feel my concepts
are in line but I do need help with the placement of the information on the tattoos.
I thought I had solved this problem in designing them but, the tattoos have
changed and am trying to find the best way to imbed a statement of how many of
the animal are left, when the animal went extinct or how it got to this state….
And the name of the animal. Here I
have posted the drawings so far. I will make info trading like cards that will
be more extensive. 
Hey Magritte! This looks great! Your drawings are beautiful, especially the quagga. I have a couple ideas for you... I'm just going to throw them at you and you can feel free to disregard them. I will not be offended I promise.
ReplyDeleteI think a good way to quickly use the tattoos to give people an idea is what you are talking about would be to include two dates and two numbers with each tattoo. So It would be something like this. These numbers and years are made up I just used them for an example.
(image)
Quagga
1700 - 30,000 individuals
2011 - 0 individuals
(Image)
Pere David Deer
1800 - 20,000 individuals
2011 - 21 individuals
It would be quick and easy.
I love what you are doing with the antlers because they actually fit on the part of the body that correlates to the animals. Are you doing two tattoos or do you plan to draw more? If you do draw more, i think it would be nice to go with the idea of putting the tattoos on the parts of your body that correlate. Like elephant tusks for ivory meant to be placed on either cheek.
Thats all I have. Can't wait to see these!!
xoxo
izzy
hey magritte
ReplyDeletethat quagga tattoo is beautiful. If you're planning on including a trading like card with all your info on it, such as backstory on how these species came to be extinct, I don't think the tattoo itself would need anything more extensive than the number system Izzy proposed placed above or below the design of the animal. Maybe you could just pique someone's curiosity by having something like "extinct quagga" on it that might invite people who see this to do a quick google search to what a quagga is since I think most people might look at the print and think "ok, zebra. end of story"
Just a thought.
-guillermo