Linnéa Ryshke

Afield
2022—2024

“Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and right doing,
there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.”
-Rumi

Afield is a multi-media project– consisting of paintings, drawings, sculpture and a forthcoming book of poetry– that center on the agency, vitality and mystery of other animals. The work derives drawings and written documentation of artistic research that I conducted in 2022 at four sites of human-animal interaction in Sweden. Using ambiguity to evoke the specific quality of each animal’s presence, Afield creates a contemplative space for viewers to engage with questions, rather than answers, about what it means to care for and care about the lives of other animals through proximity and distance. 

A ring

Site 4: Conservation ringing station

These paintings were made in response to my experience volunteering at a migratory bird conservation station, which “rings” wild birds. This means capturing and securing a metal ring around the ankles of migratory song birds. This practice of “ringing” or “banding” wild birds is ubiquitous across ornithology and conservation efforts. I experienced the act as one of force and focus on the bird as specimen, not as individual clearly communicating her fear and lack of consent.